


Bonus to A Light & His Soul Snatcher

by natigail



Series: Soul Snatcher AU [2]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Christmas Eve, Gen, Light!Phil, M/M, Magic-Users, Meet the Family, Origin Story, Predator/Prey, Soul Snatchers, SoulSnatcher!Dan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-11-19 00:05:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 45,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11301630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natigail/pseuds/natigail
Summary: This is a compilation of extra scenes from the main story A Light & His Soul Snatcher, which can be found as the first of the Soul Snatcher AU series. Read that first to avoid spoilers.Get to know more about how Dan became a soul snatcher, how Phil broke down Dan's defences, how Dan met Phil's family, how they decided to go on a global mission to stop soul snatchers and much more.





	1. The Lonely Teen Who Touched Magic

Dan should have gotten used to it by now. Ever since his little brother had been born, he’d been invisible. Adrian became the centre of his parents’ universe the moment he took his first breath and Dan faded into the background.

His family loved him, sure, at least like it was required for a family to do. He shouldn’t complain because they kept him clothed, fed and he always had a roof over his head, even if his family didn’t have much money.

But he craved the attention that they gave Adrian. He was instinctively smart and he had this certain aroma about him that Dan couldn’t quite explain. He didn’t understand when he was a kid but he’d learn what it was later.

Magic. _Glow_. The ability to do things others couldn’t.

He mesmerised people with his big eyes as a baby and as he grew into a toddler and a child, it just got more intense. Their parents loved him, the teachers loved him, all the other kids flocked to be near him.

Of course, magic was sort of frowned upon and Adrian wasn’t allowed to practice it outside in the street. A lot of people feared it and they would gasps in disgust if they saw someone practice it.

So it was kept a secret from everyone outside of the family but Dan couldn’t help but notice that the _glow_ from inside of Adrian, though completely invisible, kept attracting people to his little brother like moth to a flame.

A few other people at school had the same inherent likeability and Dan started to wonder if everyone of those had magic like his little brother. Dan didn’t make friends easily. He spent too much time inside of his head thinking or burying his nose in books. He would say the wrong thing and make it very awkward whenever he attempted any social interaction.

If only he had _glow_ like Adrian, then people would like him.

Life wouldn’t have to be so dull and lonely.

He began checking for magic related books when he went to the library in his hometown. There were surprisingly little literature on the subject, despite apparently one in twenty people having it according to a dusty old folder Dan had found fallen down behind the bookcase.

So much about magic was still a mystery to everyone and nobody talked about it. Dan was just a young teen when his obsession with magic really started but he stayed in the phrase for years.

His parents seemed mildly worried but they didn’t kick up a big fuss. They were used to leaving Dan to his own devices. They kept a close eye on Adrian though, who had a tendency to be quite careless with his display of magic.

Then there was the whole legend of soul snatchers, which were dark and evil creatures who prayed on the vulnerable and took their soul. Every so often someone would disappear and it would be assumed to be the work of a soul snatcher.

Like humans with _glow_ , there wasn’t a lot literature on soul snatchers either. No one really survived a close encounter with one, so much was legend and rumours and Dan wondered if it was really true or just a scare tactic to keep people in line.

As for the disappearing people, well they might just have run away from this boring town. Dan had certainly considered it.

Just because his research hadn’t yielded a lot of information, it didn’t mean that people didn’t talk about magic a lot. It was a very common topic in school and everyone spoke as if they didn’t have it.

It was statistically impossible that none in their whole school had it but the fear of being exposed must have run deep.

Dan was eighteen when he was sat at the corner of a table in the cafeteria, slowly tearing at his dry bread, when a specific conversation caught his ear. He was too awkward to make real lasting friendships but for some reason the group of popular people liked having him around, even if they didn’t let him too close. Dan thought it might be an extension of wanting to be friends with his brother, who was several years younger but still much cooler than Dan.

“My cousin says that there’s one of those magic veins in the forest bordering on his town. It should be really awesome,” one of the guys said.

“You know they say that if you touch it, you get this incredible high,” another one of them commented.

Touching pure magic was another one of those things that were spoken about in whispers. People said the experience was exhilarating or nauseous or power inducing. There were too many different accounts for Dan’s liking, if you could even locate a vein of magic. It was also seen as a test of your masculinity to challenge the magic flowing through the earth.

“We should totally go find it,” a third of them said. “It’ll be awesome.”

“Why don’t we plan a trip, I’m sure my cousin can point us in the right direction. What about you, Dan? Are you in?”

Dan almost choked on his bread when he heard his name being called. His mind warned him that this was not a good idea. The spare literature that he’d found in the local library had conflicting statements about the effects of being exposed to pure magic. Some said that it would have terrible consequences.

On the other hand, some insinuated that it would give you _glow_ if you were worthy. That was something that Dan desired more than he was willing to admit to anyone, let alone himself.

It might be a small chance but the chance to have just a smidgen of that air of confidence that his brother possessed was very, very tempting.

“What about soul snatchers?” Dan dared to ask. He was slightly worried they might laugh at him for bringing up the bogey monster.

“We’ll just stay in houses after dark. My dad says that those suckers only come out after dark,” one of the boys replied.

“Come on, Dan. It’ll be good for you,” the third boy said and Dan caught the implicit meaning.

It would be good for his reputation. It would be required to continue to “hang out” with them. It would be good for his future prospects not to be a wuss about soul snatchers and magic.

“Sure, sounds awesome,” Dan nodded in agreement and completely ignored the sinking feeling in his stomach.

He was getting out onto deep waters and his mind yelled at him to swim back to the shallow where monsters weren’t lurking underneath and waiting to pull him under and drown him.

He’d go back to his books and find out everything he could before the trip. He’d be safe. He’d be careful and then it would be okay. Right?

His parents were very lax about him going on a trip to a town several miles away and into an unknown forest. They were just happy that he was “bonding” with his friends. Adrian was the only one who raised his concerns the day before Dan was to leave.

He came into Dan’s room while he was procrastinating packing. Adrian plopped down on Dan’s bed and with a wave of his hands made Dan’s backpack float in the air.

“The binds aren’t drawn,” Dan said in warning but Adrian didn’t seem to care. He’d become more and more careless with his actions and now a teen himself, it was increasing rapidly.

Soon enough he’d slip up publically and people would know. Dan wasn’t sure if it would be that bad. Most likely people would still worship the ground he walked on. His little brother was lucky like that.

“Are you really going to look for pure magic?” Adrian enquired.

“Yes, one of my friends’ cousins knows where one is and we’re going to check it out. It’ll be nice to see magic in its true form.”

“Dan, do you ever think that there’ll be a day where I don’t have to hide who I am?” Adrian asked and looked intensely at his hands wringing in his lap.

Dan froze and for a moment the envy he felt for his brother’s abilities melted away. Dan believed that the world would change its stance on magic any day now and Adrian could do all the magic he wanted publically. Dan couldn’t bring himself to believe that anything bad would befall the family’s golden boy.

“Of course, I’m sure it’ll have happened before you become an adult, Adrian. You hear how people talk about it at school. The young people are mostly fascinated with it and eventually; the old people will get it too. They’re just scared of something that they don’t understand. They should read a book or two on it.”

Dan couldn’t bring himself to see magic as something negative. It was a wonderful thing that lit up people and makes them full and satisfied, which was why he wanted it so desperately for himself. He felt empty inside and magic could fill that hole, or at least he hoped so.

“Just you wait, if I come back with magic, then we’ll be in it together,” Dan joked.

Adrian gave Dan a stern nod and then unexpectedly sprung to his feet and gave Dan a quick but firm hug before bolting out the door so fast that Dan hardly had time to register the gesture.

The track to the forest with his “friends” was long and tedious. They slept in a old shell of a hut near the forest’s edge and Dan could swear that he’d seen a frame with hallow eyes lurk outside of their window when he woke around dawn.

However the thing, if it had even been anything, had been gone before Dan could raise the alarm. Dan wasn’t sure if he’d actually seen a soul snatcher, which supposedly had entirely black eyes, or if his mind was playing tricks on him.

After hiking for hours, they finally found the spot that the cousin had marked on one of Dan’s friends’ map.

Dan actually sensed it before they even saw it. The air felt like it was tingling his skin and he felt something contract in his chest. Magic.

Whenever Adrian used his magic at home, this feeling lingered in the air for a second or two and here… it just stayed. It was actually real and they’d found it. He’d be able to touch the magic and maybe even gain he ability to wield it like his brother did.

The four of them all sped up to an almost run as they neared the spot.

It was a hole in the ground, seemingly dug out by someone, and it revealed a very thick root of one of the nearby trees. Only a sliver of the root was cut open and from it gleamed something golden that almost blinded their eyes if they stared directly at it.

“We found it!” one of the other boys shouted and did a fist bump.

Dan gulped and just stared at the exposed vein. He tried to go over all the background he’d memorised in his head and the warning signals flashed in his mind but he’d come too far to pay any attention to them. It was mostly rumours anyway. Most people who found pure magic talked about the wonders of it.

Besides, magic was pure, innocent and good, so touching it wouldn’t hurt you.

“You touch it first, Dan, you’re the one with all the knowledge about it.”

Dan clenched his teeth. He really didn’t want to go first. He’d have preferred to observe the others to gauge their reaction but it wasn’t like them using peer pressure was something new. He’d almost gotten used to it by now.

They began chanting his name and he took a deep breath to steady his nerves. Just the gentlest, briefest contact would be enough. He’d barely have to touch it because it was so powerful that prolonged contact wouldn’t be good for him.

Barely a second of contact and that would be enough.

He’d get his own _glow_ , he fantasised, while he moved towards the vein.

His head was buzzing from heavy magic-filled air already and he held his hand over the vein, crouched down next to the hole. Just a fingertip touch and that would be it, he told himself. He’d be fine.

Magic was good. Magic would protect him.

He reached out and he had not been prepared at all. None of the reading had told him about the excruciating pain that ripped through his body at the slightest contact. He felt like his insides were being mauled and every nerve ending in his body felt on fire.

He felt paralysed with pain and even as he pulled back almost instantly, he knew the damage was done. Something inside of him felt broken amongst all the pain.

His friends scrambled around him, asking what was wrong so he willed down the signs of his agony. He couldn’t let this be another thing for them to hold against him.

“It’s a strong punch,” Dan managed to choke out between clenched teeth.

Apparently, he masked the pain well because the next moment the lads were laughing and joking about Dan being sensitive.

The pain subsided after the first few excruciating seconds but his body felt hollowed out, emptier than before. He felt cold to everything around him. Something felt truly fractured within him and he tried to desperately recall any of his extensive magic knowledge to help him identify the phenomenon but he came up empty. In fact, he could hardly recall the titles of the books he’d spent years going through. He blinked rapidly as if that would make his memories stand clearer in his mind.

“My turn. I’m sure I have a higher tolerance for greatness than you, Dan.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Dan tried to warn but it was too late. His friend, whose cousin was the one who’d even let them to find this place, was going in for it and he didn’t approach tentatively like Dan.

He went in with his whole hand and screamed a blood-crying shriek in the same instance. Dan tried to cover his ears to make the sound stop and he felt paralysed all over. So did his friend because he stayed stuck until their two other friends yanked him back.

When they made contact with the boy they suddenly screamed too and everything was too loud for Dan and the air hung so heavy. Everything became a bit fussy after that bit.

At some point all four boys managed to pick themselves up and quietly began the journey back home without a word of what had happened. Dan wondered if the other boys felt as empty and wrong as he did.

They certainly didn’t feel manly. Dan quietly wondered if this was what having magic felt like. However, he doubted that Adrian walked around with a void in his chest, like Dan felt like right now.

It took a day and a half to get back home and slowly during the journey, the other boys began to speak again. They began to hype it up and how awesome it had been, despite Dan seeing with his own eyes how they’d all been crying messes, even the two who only touched the vein second-hand.

They didn’t bother to find shelter for the night and just slept outside in their sleeping bags. Dan woke during the night and felt something circle them. It moved like a predator but it walked on two legs and had all-black eyes but it didn’t make a move to attack them. Dan just closed his eyes and willed away what he thought was a hallucination. If he’d been in his right mind, he’d have trusted his eyes and questioned why a soul snatcher wouldn’t attack four unprotected individuals.

Back at home, his parents didn’t ask a lot of questions. Dan hadn’t expected them to. Adrian did but Dan gave vague half-answers to his brother’s questions. It wasn’t exactly over the dinner table conversation.

Dan had felt empty before but now he felt completely hollowed out.

“Dan, are you sure that you’re okay?” Adrian asked as he came to pause in the doorway to Dan’s room as he was going to sleep for the first night after returning home.

“Of course, I’m okay, Adrian. When am I never not okay?” Dan spat at his brother because he didn’t feel okay, he never felt okay but it wasn’t like he could say that to anybody, so he took to the comforting lie like a second skin. It would protect him.

“Damn, someone’s in a mood,” Adrian said and rolled his eyes before he left.

The following day one of the three other boys didn’t show up to school, which instantly had Dan worried. It was Daryl the boy who’d stuck his whole damn hand into the vein of magic.

After school he swung by said boy’s house, just to make sure. It wasn’t unlikely for someone to check up on a friend, who was absent from school with no apparent reason.

“Hello?” a woman answered the door, supposedly Daryl’s mother and her face was tearstained. Upon seeing him, her face contorted in anger. “Are you one of them? One of the boys who went on that trip with Daryl? How could you?”

“What?” Dan asked in confusion and the woman started jabbing a finger at Dan.

“A soul snatcher must have followed you home. Daryl is gone!” the woman exclaimed and broke out into tears.

Adrenalin rushed through Dan’s body and the weird dream he’d had came to mind. Had that been a real soul snatcher that had lurked around them that night? It couldn’t have been because there was no indication that soul snatchers stalked their prey? They attacked instantly, right?

Dan’s head throbbed as he tried to recall his memory. It was like there was something blocking his access to the memories but that was utterly ridiculous.

“I don’t know,” Dan said and stumbled back from the front door and the grieving woman.

“How could you?” she screamed as Dan started to run and he was surprised to find his feet carrying him way too fast. He wasn’t alethic and he was moving with the gait of a seasoned runner.

It was still early and his parents hadn’t come home from their work yet and knowing Adrian, he was probably hanging out with friends after school. Dan arrived home to an empty house and promptly went to his room to flick through the pages. He’d studied it all so carefully and it felt like all the knowledge had just vanished overnight.

He scrambled through the old papers and his many notes, looking desperately for something that his subconscious told him was there. Scrambling through everything, his hands stopped abruptly when he found it.

It was a very old scroll briefly theorising about soul snatchers.

Mute creatures. All black eyes. Very fast. Soulless. Hunters. Mindless predators.

Dan’s throat felt like it contracted. No, it couldn’t be. Soul snatchers were just human-like because they imitated their prey. They couldn’t possibly actually have been humans once upon a time? It was such a far-fetched idea but something felt unsettled about Daryl’s disappearance.

People didn’t up and vanish like that and he had been in a very bad way when he’d touched that exposed vein of magic. And the broken, fractured and hollow feeling became more all encompassing for every hour that passed.

Scrambling to his feet, Dan rushed to the nearest mirror and pulled back in terror when he saw his reflection.

No…

He wanted to cry but no tears sprung to his eyes. Crying usually came very easy to him but like so many other things they felt locked off to him.

His pupils were doing something that they shouldn’t have been able to. They were expanding past his iris, pulsing like something dark and disgusting attempting to take over his eyes.

“N-“ he tried to say but the words died in his throat. Panicked, he tried to scream but no sound came out. He felt so, so scared and caught in the emotion as he watched his body feeling very detached.

It couldn’t be but Dan couldn’t argue with the facts of the situation. In a heartbeat, he decided to make a final action before he’d lose control forever. He could feel it coming. He didn’t need to consults his books to know that this was a lost cause.

He found a piece of paper and quickly scribbled a note telling his parents and Adrian that he had to move out. He was old enough to live on his own anyway and the fact that he didn’t finish school would have been a concern but the weight of everything Dan had ever been concerned about was being washed away.

He told them not to come looking for him, even if he doubted that they would. He told them that he loved them. He used the excuse that this town was too small for him and he needed to explore the great wide world. He told them not to worry.

He wanted to cry or scream so badly to express his frustration and crippling fear but his body wouldn’t let him. Grabbing a black hoodie, he headed out the door of his childhood home and just started running.

His legs carried him elegantly and he felt absolutely no fatigue. He needed to get away from everyone before something terrible happened. Soul snatchers were said to be extremely attached to humans with _glow_.

If he did something to his baby brother…

Dan couldn’t even entertain the thought, or any thoughts at all it seemed. The more he ran, the more he felt the numbness and hollowed out feeling reach his brain. He was sure he’d lose his conscious mind any second.

Why did he have to go and touch that exposed vein of magic? It had been none of his business and it had broken and mutated him. Magic wasn’t good and pure and it wouldn’t protect him.

Magic was twisted and vile and it was made to be consumed.

All souls were representation of magic, something told hi-it. However, some had excess _glow_ that enable them to wield magic. Consuming souls, particular souls of those with _glow_ , was its only priority.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't help myself, guys. I had too many ideas for these two characters to just be done with the story. However, as I like the sort of completeness of the main story and how I structured it, I thought I'd add all the extra scenes and stories here. I hope you liked it! I have ten bonus chapters planned out as is and five of them written in total.
> 
> Come back Wednesday to read what happened after Phil came back from the forest with skin that no longer glowed and black hair.


	2. The Boy Who Lost His Shine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil watched baffled as Dan disappeared into thin air and promptly run home to his parents to enlist them to help look for the tall boy with black eyes. It doesn't go as expected.

Phil looked around as Dan disappeared into thin air. Phil was so stunned that the self-proclaimed soul snatcher just used light in front of him. He’d sensed that there had been something special about Dan from the moment the tall young man had leapt after him. Phil had wanted to make it better, to make Dan’s fear and sadness go away. He knew how his mother always melted into his touch whenever she was upset. He’d wanted to provide that for Dan but instead the older one had just started talking so fast and gotten a very desperate look in his eyes. 

Phil had never quite felt anything like whatever Dan had done to him. He’d felt so exposed and unprotected and his basic instincts had screamed at him to resist and to thrash around in an attempt to remove the “attacker”. His human instincts told him that he had been about to die but his light had felt calm, so he hadn’t protested to whatever Dan had done. 

Phil got onto his wobbly feet and paused when he looked down at his arms. They weren’t shining like they normally did. They were pale, much like Martyn’s skin, and there wasn’t that brilliant golden light floating out of his pores. Slightly alarmed, Phil checked his light but he felt perfectly fine and as strong as ever. Nothing felt wrong with him.

Except that sinking feeling in his stomach because Dan had just run away from him. Phil wasn’t sure how he was supposed to follow and check up on Dan. He wanted to because Dan had looked so horrified and scared and he needed the comfort that Phil knew his touch would provide. He could faintly sense some lingering magic in the air but he had no idea how to follow it. 

He turned back towards the exposed vein of magic and wandered up close. He wanted to dip his fingers into the glorious beam of light but he resisted, he had more pressing things to take care of, like finding Dan. Surely, his parents would be able to help him locate the odd tall boy with the mesmerising eyes. 

Thinking of his eyes, Phil could have sworn they looked more like brown by the time Dan had evaporated and hadn’t his hair looked lighter too? 

Phil didn't dwell on it further; his five-year-old brain more occupied with actually finding the boy rather than contemplating his appearance. As Phil began walking away from the vein, it dawned on him that he wasn’t sure which way home was but he just walked anyway. His light would help him find home. 

As he walked, all the animals from earlier joined his path and Phil grinned as he greeted all of them. He even asked them why they’d left his side when he’d gone towards the magic beam of light. They didn’t answer him, of course, but Phil wondered if it had something to do with Dan’s presence. He did seem rather frightening until you looked into his eyes and saw that he was just scared. Phil wondered if he was lost in the woods. 

Phil had heard of the monsters that lurked outside. He’d practically been told about them every single day. They had been the reason that Phil wasn’t allowed to go outside. But if they were all like Dan then why had his parents worried so much?

As the trees began to thin out and he could see the edge of his town, Phil paused and gnawed on his fingers. His parents would be mad at him. They had been so furious every time he’d tried to leave and this time he’d actually done it.

He considered just staying out here in the forest and look for Dan himself but he was tired and hungry. Surely, the scold that was ensured wouldn’t be too bad. After all, Phil hadn’t been attacked by any of the monsters that they always talked about. Dan had tackled him sure, but Dan wasn’t dangerous. Phil’s light told him that with a conviction Phil couldn’t refute. 

He walked towards his house and carefully pulled the door open. Inside Carly and Martyn were sat on the sofa and they both looked up in surprise to find Phil standing in the doorway, looking apologetic to minimise his scolding. 

“Phil?” Carly said and sprung to her feet and then ran up and swooped him into her arms. Phil almost got the air knocked out of him but he didn’t care because Carly didn’t sound mad and that was a pleasant surprise.

Phil didn't know how long Carly kept hugging him for but Martyn walked up to them as well and Phil’s older brother looked thoroughly confused. 

“Why are you not glowing anymore?” Martyn asked when Carly finally put Phil back down. 

“I don’t know,” Phil replied. “Think Dan hid it.”

“Who’s Dan, sweetheart?” Carly asked and despite term of endearment, Phil could hear the edge in her voice. 

“Dan from the forest. He’s very tall,” Phil explained and didn’t realise that that explanation didn’t make much sense. 

Marty poked Phil hard in the arm, which caused Phil to yelp and pull back. 

“That hurts, Martyn!”

“Carly, why isn’t Phil glowing anymore?” Martyn asked the woman, who looked like she was about to pass out any minute. 

“I don't know, honey, but can you look after your brother for a moment? I need to go find your parents, Phil. They are out looking for you and worried sick.”

Phil’s face contorted into guilt. He hadn’t meant to worry his parents. He’d just wanted to go outside and explore the world, which he was so fascinated by. They wouldn’t let him, so he had little choice but to do it without their permission. He knew it was wrong but the pull inside of him had been so strong. 

Carly darted out the door and slammed it behind her. Martyn was still staring at Phil. 

“Your hair is black,” his older brother told him.

“What?” Phil exclaimed and hurried off to find a mirror. He stared with open mouth at his reflection. He looked so different. His skin was pale and not-glowing and that made everything look different. But Martyn was right; his hair had been much lighter before. It was pitch black now, kind of like Dan’s eyes.

“Can you still do magic?” Martyn asked with curiosity in his voice. 

Phil hadn't even thought about that but his light felt fine. With the swing of his hand, he made Martyn levitate over the ground. It was a game they played in secret because Martyn loved floating around. The older brother giggled and smiled wide as Phil’s powers left him suspended a couple of inches off the floor. 

“That's good,” Martyn nodded. 

Phil wondered if that was why Carly was so worried. He should have assured her that he was fine, both him and his light. Carly had a light of her own, maybe that was why she was so worried for him. He couldn't even imagine losing his light. 

The door burst open and the two worried parents came rushing in and with another swoop Phil was in the arms of his mother, who was clinging on tighter than Carly. Phil’s father lingered in the doorway, huffing and looking sickly but he hadn’t been feeling well this morning. However, he paled even more the longer he stared at Phil.

Phil’s mother just kept hugging him and whispering how much she loved him. Phil reached out to let his light calm her roaring emotions. 

“What has he said?” Phil’s father asked Carly. 

“He said something about someone named Dan hiding his  _glow_ ,” Carly answered.

“His _glow_? It is gone?” his father asked and sounded almost hopeful. Phil’s light winched. 

“No,” his mother said. “He’s still using it to reassure me.”

“He made me float before,” Martyn commented in a hushed voice. They’d been told off for the game before but his brother must think it more important to reveal that Phil still had his light than to protect their secret game. 

“He appears fine,” Carly said. “I checked him when I picked him up. He feels completely normal other than the black hair and pale skin.”

“I like my black hair,” Phil commented because he’d actually liked how it looked in the mirror. It would take some getting used to but maybe it was a good thing that he didn’t shine so brightly. Carly had once said that it was one of the reasons that he had to stay inside and couldn’t go to school like Martyn. Maybe now he could. 

“How is this even possible?” Phil's father asked and began pacing back and worth. “He went outside! Something happened to him! What if he's been cursed or something?”

“Calm down, dear,” Phil's mother said to his father and finally released Phil from her iron grip. “Phil is home safely and I'm sure he can tell us what happened, can't you?”

Phil nodded but he still felt a bit scared to talk about when he left without permission.

“We aren't mad, honey. We're just so happy to have you home. We won't scold you. We're just so happy that you're here, Phil. Let's go sit down, shall we?”

With his mother’s reassurance, Phil settled down in the sofa between her and Carly.

“I left the house. I felt a pull. The forest called me,” Phil said, talking in fragments because it was so difficult to explain out loud. 

“That's good. Keep going,” his father encouraged. 

“I found this... light. Light in a tree. Light like mine but different. And I met Dan.”

A silence settled over the little group but Phil wasn't sure why. He couldn't know that it was because all the adults present could image what he’d found. Exposed veins of magic were not child’s play and more so they also knew the rumours that soul snatchers lurked near them. Phil had known none of this when he first ventured out because despite warning him of soul sucking monsters, they hadn’t thought he’d understand a complex explanation. 

“Who is Dan, Phil?” Carly asked again. 

“Tall boy. He was scared. Black eyes,” Phil said and couldn’t understand when his words made all of his family members and Carly recoil as if something that stung them. “He was nice,” Phil added on because he could sense the hostility in the air and it was gaining momentum by the second. “He is missing. We need to find him.”

His family seemed to ignore that last part. 

“It can't be possible, can it, Carly?” his father asked. 

“I... I don't know, Mr Lester. There’s only one creature known to have black eyes. But no one who meets a soul snatcher gets to walk away alive, especially not a child with _glow_. They are the perfect prey.”

“He can't have been near a monster like that, right?” his mother asked worriedly. 

“Dan is a nice soul snatcher,” Phil protested.

Three pairs of eyes looked at him with wonder and then pity. Phil crossed his arms and put on his best grumpy face. He didn’t like feeling belittled. He knew what had happened. He’d been the only one there. Dan was not a monster. His black eyes might have seemed scary at first glance but upon a closer look he’d been more scared than scary. Dan had tried to help him. Phil was sure that Dan had purposely made his skin stop glowing. Phil was already getting used to it and honestly; he quite liked it, especially if it meant it would allow him to go to school.

“Can I go to school now?” Phil asked and stretched out his arms as to showcase that he was no longer glowing. He wanted to go outside so desperately again and he could hear the magic from the tree calling on him still. He should have stopped and touched it while he’d had the chance but he’d been worried about Dan being hurt and needing help. 

“Dan disappeared. He needs help,” Phil said but the adults weren’t paying attention to him anymore. 

“I just can't believe that he might have survived an encounter with a soul snatcher,” Carly said. “It's impossible.”

“Maybe this Dan character wasn’t even a soul snatcher. Maybe it was just a beggar with dark eyes. Phil has a lively imagination, maybe he made up Dan,” Phil's father reasoned. 

“Why would he do that?” his mother countered.

“It's more likely that the boy walking away practically unscathed after meeting a soul snatcher!”

“Actually, Mrs Lester," Carly interjected and put on her adult voice, which meant she wasn’t addressing Phil in any way anymore, “all research indicates that soul snatchers are mute, which means that Phil wouldn’t have gotten a name, even if by some stroke of luck the thing didn’t consume him before he uttered a word.”

“See, it wasn’t a bloody soul snatcher,” Phil's father said with such determination that Phil had to believe him.

Phil actually agreed. Dan wasn’t a soul-sucking monster. He had the power to call upon a light to be able to vanish like that. However, Phil had never sensed magic like Dan’s before. It felt very foreign and nothing like what he sensed in Carly or the people passing by their house. 

His parents didn’t want to hear about going out to look for Dan after that initial discussion. Phil tried to get them to listen several times but they turned him down each time. He eventually managed to enlist Martyn’s help until their parents found out and promptly stopped that. 

Eventually the memory of Dan began to fade. A few months later, Phil got enrolled into school, only a year delayed, and he soon forgot about the weird encounter he’d had when he left his house for the first time. Dan had been a figment of his imagination, like the many imaginary friends that he made up. As he grew up, he even seemed to forget that once upon a time his skin used to glow and his hair had been blond ginger. So many new memories and experiences pushed those far, far back. 

When he became a teenager, he had to read about soul snatcher for a school project. When he saw an image of black bottomless pits for eyes, something nudged in the back of his mind but he wasn’t sure what it was. The following days after completing the project, he’d dream of black eyes. However, they weren’t static like the realistic drawing from the book. They were moving and blinking and very much alive. The whole dream was set in the forest but Phil knew he wasn’t allowed in there. 

Bad things lurked and soul snatchers were dangerous to people with _glow_. He’d finally learnt that what he’d been calling light for years was actually called _glow_. Not that people talked much about being able to wield magic. It was kept secret. Some people looked down at those who could commander it. Some even speculated that it was magic wielding humans who controlled soul snatchers. Phil had never heard anything so preposterous. 

A memory, however vital and strong, at the age of five was bound to fade and get contorted by age. Phil went to school and made friends. He left the house with ease every morning and forgot about the time when he wasn’t even allowed to open the front door. His brain pushed back negatives, like his secluded first years. However, his light would always remember Dan because the soul snatcher had touched it directly with no barriers between. 

That was only supposed to happen before the _glow_ got absorbed into a soul snatcher’s vessel, doomed to reside there. Trapped. Until drained from every ounce of life source.

It wasn't supposed to happen when an ability was offered with no holds barred. Dan had pushed one of his species' abilities onto Phil as a gift, not caring what it would do to his own soulless body. 

_Glow_ acted different inside of everyone but someone with a lot of it, like a _light_ as Phil, was usually the most kind-hearted people you’d ever meet. When his _light_ had been clouded in the soul snatcher’s masking aura, a gift to help Phil grow up safe, it had left just a flicker of itself behind in Dan. 

The boys’ story would have been finished and Dan’s body would have contorted and burnt out if Phil instinctively hadn’t told his light to reach out and help instead of attack and defend itself. Because of that, a dozen years later, a certain soul snatcher awoke in his hiding spot feeling different that before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have the Lesters and Carly reacting to Phil returning home from the forest after he lost his glowing complexion and light hair turned black. Did anyone wonder what happened when they read the original story? I hope this satisfied you and it was an excuse to write more of Child!Phil because he's utterly adorable as a five year old. 
> 
> Let me know if you liked it! And I'll be posting another extra chapter next Wednesday as well. This time how Phil got around to inviting Dan to move in with him after spending months breaking down Dan's defences.


	3. The Friend Who Didn't Give Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Immediately after meeting for the second time and seemingly having worked things out, Dan's old insecurities creep up and he tries to push Phil away for the light's own safety. Phil never did listen when being ordered around though and he's far to invested in getting to know Dan to let anything drive them apart.
> 
> *Takes place immediately after Part 2: The Soul Snatcher Healed With Magic finishes*

Dan wanted to believe in Phil’s words so badly. Dan had always wanted to be magic. It had been his dream to be able to wield magic and now he had gorgeous, kind Phil telling him that he was magic.

Phil wasn’t the lying type and Dan knew that the boy believed what he told him.

Dan let himself get swept up into the belief because with Phil’s fingertips resting on his cheek, it had felt real. He could believe that he was magic because Phil was right there and he was so close and why would he care about Dan, if it wasn’t because he was magic somehow? No one had cared about Dan before when he wasn’t magic.

The predator sedated, his mind began to run wild instead. Phil’s touch calmed the inner turmoil but the moment Phil drew his hand back, everything snapped back into place within Dan. He was a monster. A soul-consuming monster and maybe a tiny bit magic or something but whatever was inside of him was evil. It wasn’t good like what was inside of Phil.

“Isn’t it wonderful?” Phil asked and actually spun around on the spot. He knew he must be grinning like an idiot at Dan but he didn’t care. His light had let him to find Dan, who he’d chucked up to a figment of his imagination.

He was so pleased that Dan was actually here within reach and real and vibrant. But when he stopped spinning and jumping on the spot and turned towards the former soul snatcher, Phil saw the shadow over Dan’s expression.

“What’s wrong, Dan? Is the magic feeling a bit overwhelming? Your magic must be a little different from mine, even if it was born as a product of it. Like your masking aura – that’s honestly so cool. Do the invisible fog from naturally or do you have to consciously do it?”

Phil’s head was spinning with all these questions and he didn’t have much of a filter to begin with.

Dan took several paces back, crossed his arms over his chest and frowned deeply while glaring at the ground. Phil was happy and bubbly and just so alive and here Dan was without a soul. Dan wasn’t magic. Phil should get way while he still could.

With the absence of Phil’s touch, Dan could already feel the predator tendencies awaken within him anew. He didn’t want to answer questions about what might or might not be magic inside of him.

Magic was corrupt and a bad thing. It had hurt him so deeply. It had essentially killed him, though death would have been a kinder mercy than having to roam as a soul snatcher.

“None of that matters, Phil,” Dan snarled and it was too easy to pour venom into his voice. Phil’s whole posture changed, dropping, and he flinched as if Dan had slapped him or tried to take his soul.

Which could still happen because Dan felt the pull and the need to attack and Phil was just standing there.

“But…” Phil opened his mouth to protest because it seemed like something had snapped inside of Dan. It had been what… A minute since he’d practically melted into Phil’s touch? Dan had seemed so soft and gentle.

The boy glaring daggers at him now seemed like the polar opposite.

“You need to leave,” Dan growled. “Right now, Phil, or I swear you’ll regret it. I’m not messing about. LEAVE ME ALONE! Do not come back for me, Phil. Just DON’T!”

Suddenly, Dan was retreating so fast that Phil’s eyes hardly could keep up. Soul snatchers had been documented to be extremely fast and it seemed Dan still was. Phil could locate him with the help of his light, so he knew exactly how fast Dan was moving away from him.

His light called out for Dan. Phil felt the same pull as before and the strain grew stronger as Dan moved away. Phil wanted to follow straight after him but Dan had sounded overwhelmed. There were so many more questions that Phil wanted to ask Dan but he’d seemed too out of it.

Sighing, Phil turned on his heels and returned to his family home. They acted perfectly normal, even if Phil was a bit on edge about his excursion to the forest. He didn’t regret it, not one bit because it had led him to Dan. However, Phil wondered if they would be able to tell where he’d been.

His light was often able to identify where people had been by the traces left from natural magic. His brother had been to his girlfriend’s house despite telling their parents over dinner that he’d been hanging out with his mate at the football field. Phil didn’t let that slip.

But none of his family were magic, so they wouldn’t be able to do that. Carly had _glow_ and she was practically an honorary member of the Lester family. However, Carly never actually wanted to speak about magic in any terms and would promptly shut down the conversation whenever Phil wanted to bring it up.

Perhaps that was why Phil revelled in finding Dan so much. He’d be able to talk to about his light and magic in general. Dan would understand. He could be completely honest with him without worrying about having to hide away such an essential part of himself. Phil smiled at the thought. He was determined to win over the former soul snatcher, no matter how long it took.

“What are you smiling like that for, my child?” Phil’s mother asked after finishing the last bite of her dinner. “Did you meet a cute girl in the library today?”

Phil fought against rolling his eyes. He didn’t particularly care about finding a romantic partner. It wasn’t on his agenda. He was much more interested in befriending Dan and talking about his light.

“No, I didn’t, Mum. I just found out something interesting.”

“Say whatever you will,” she countered and smiled in that distinct mother way that she often did when she seemed to know something Phil didn’t. He wasn’t even paying attention to her anymore, because his mind was already focusing on how he could win over Dan.

Dan couldn’t believe his senses when he felt Phil coming out into the forest the following day. He groaned out loud because what kind of torture was this? First, his body wouldn’t let him starve to death and die like it was supposed to do and now the universe was playing some kind of cosmic joke where the most delicious meal came and sought him out itself.

“Phil,” Dan snapped when Phil made it into the clearing. Dan could have run away but he couldn’t make himself. Some small part, a very human but supressed part, was touched that Phil would even come back after what he told him yesterday.

“Hi Dan,” Phil said with the brightest smile ever.

The action made it seem like his blue eyes were actually glowing. Heck, maybe they were. Phil had a special way with light, as evident by the tiny slivers of gold in Dan’s eyes, which he tried not to think about.

“I brought you some lunch,” Phil said and patted the bag clung over his shoulder. “I made you a sandwich and chopped up some fresh fruit but the best part is the cookies I swiped from the tray while my mother wasn’t looking.”

Something clenched in Dan’s chest because obviously Phil would have brought him food. He probably didn’t know that Dan really couldn’t eat human food – at least he didn’t think he could. He’d never actually tried but he didn’t crave it or need it to survive.

“I can’t eat human food, idiot,” Dan spat and he tried to make it sound harsh because Phil needed to get away. Dan’s body told him he was hungry from something else that Phil had but the boy wouldn’t survive if he handed that over. “I feed on souls, remember?”

“Oh,” Phil sounded beat-down. “Are you sure? Have you ever tried it? My mother makes the best chocolate chip cookies in existence. She’d have my head if she knew I took some without permission. Are you trying to get me into trouble?”

Dan wasn’t sure how Phil managed to sound so casual. Dan stepped closer to Phil because that damn pull between them was driving him crazy. He kept his hands balled up, unable to pull at Phil’s soul, but he tried to seem as intimidating as possible, even going as far as to make his masking aura visible and hostile.

“You should go, Phil. I already told you that you’d regret coming back.”

Phil nearly took a step back when Dan came charging at him but he stopped himself. He could take this. Dan was hurting and confused and he needed Phil’s help to understand that he was okay. He wasn’t bad, even though he tried to be. He’d spared Phil’s life and he’d been willing to sacrifice his own for Phil to have a better one. Dan was far from evil.

“And listen closely because I’m here to tell you that I won’t back off. I’ll keep coming back no matter what, Dan. I just found you. I thought you were an imaginary friend that I made up as a child but you’re real and so much better than anything I could make up. I’m not letting you go.”

Dan’s tough mask cracked just for a moment and Phil saw the vulnerability and the doubt and the fear that Dan was masking. It was a brief glimpse but it made Phil have hope.

“I could just consume your soul, Phil. You’re powerful, even more so now but you didn’t stop me as a child. You might not be able to stop me now.”

The threat should have made Phil petrified. He felt confident in his light and its ability to protect him but he didn’t want to hurt Dan in the process. That gave Dan an advantage if he actually did try and kill Phil.

Having your soul ripped from your body was said to be the worst death imaginably.

“I wouldn’t have to stop you because you wouldn’t do that to me, Dan. Now shut up and try one of these cookies,” Phil countered.

Dan almost wanted to knock him over just because of that remark. Phil didn’t know the darkness inside of Dan. He either had no clue or he chose to blatantly disregard it. Dan wasn’t sure which one was better.

He made a move to step back away from Phil because being this close made him feel like he was intoxicated and that was a dangerous thing. Only something was holding him in place and his legs refused to move.

“Phil…” Dan said warningly. He had no doubt this was his work.

“Just try a cookie and I’ll let you go,” Phil assured him.

Dan wasn’t sure if he should be pleased or scared that Phil seemed to be able to hold him in place without any visible effort. It was reassuring to know that Phil was strong and able to defend himself if Dan should lose control. Still being caged and frozen did all sorts of things to him. He felt like he was beginning to tremble.

His instincts told him to lash out. Phil was close enough to reach.

“Phil, let me go,” Dan warned and tried to yank his body backwards. Phil’s expression changed and suddenly, Dan was flinging himself backwards without any of the resistance from before and he fell onto the ground.

“I’m sorry,” Phil hurried to say as Dan collected himself from the ground. “I didn’t think… I’m so sorry, Dan.”

“It’s fine,” Dan huffed out because Phil hadn’t meant to freak him out. They just needed to get as far away from each other as possible. Dan’s presence wasn’t good for Phil. He needed to separate himself from the bright individual as soon as possible.

“Catch,” Phil said instead and Dan’s arm flung out without a second thought and he was holding a cookie in his hand. He eyed Phil.

“Try it, Dan. It’s really good. Human food is probably good for you. Cake is always good for everybody, even those not born human.”

Dan frowned at that. Right, humans still didn’t know that soul snatchers were former humans. He shouldn’t say it out loud but he wanted to. He could reveal so many soul snatcher secrets because Phil had granted him the ability to speak, even if it had been an accident. The dark and twisted presence inside of him said to shut up but Phil’s open, trusting and hopeful face told Dan otherwise.

“I was human once, Phil.”

Phil had not been expecting that one. “What? But what made you… how are you? I don’t understand. I thought that soul snatcher were like spirits taken shape of ourselves or something. What?”

“It’s a long story, Phil,” Dan said and scratched the back of his neck. Phil looked like he was brimming over with questions. Dan hated this but he’d move past the uncomfortable feeling in his chest to satisfy Phil. “And it’s not one I’m particularly fond of talking about. But I was born human and then I made the mistake of approaching magic despite not being born with the ability to touch it like you. It turned me into a soul snatcher.”

Phil’s mouth actually fell open. He’d not been expecting that to come out of Dan’s mouth. Magic turned humans into soul snatchers? Why hadn’t the books ever said anything about that? How could people not know after soul snatchers having been around for centuries?

“But how…”

“Please, Phil. I don’t want to talk about it,” Dan said too gently, so he gathered up the all too assessable malice and poured it into his voice anew. “Leave me alone, Phil. You and I shouldn’t be talking. We’re natural enemies. Leave.”

“But if we just…”

Phil was trying to protest when fog curled forward, emitting from Dan and then Phil couldn’t see anything. The fog felt too dense and it was pushing at him and he was scrambling backwards for what felt like a whole minute.

Then suddenly the fog lifted and evaporated and Phil found himself far from where he and Dan had been talking. Dan had somehow pushed him away. Phil almost stamped the ground like an unruly toddler but he contained himself. He wasn’t giving up this easily.

Dan would never admit it but he tried to taste the chocolate chip cookie after he’d pushed Phil away. He hadn’t tasted human food in so long. He’d expected it to just turn into ash in his mouth or something but he found that he was able to bite into it and chew down on it without complications, even swallowing it afterwards. Dan had to admit it was pretty tasty.

Phil came back the following day too, though without human snacks. Dan was ready to shoo him off, despite secretly loving that Phil would go out of his way to seek him out. Dan had been sure that Phil would pester him with more questions about being a soul snatcher but surprisingly, Phil wanted to chat about normal things.

School, friends, games and so on. Dan didn’t understand but he went along with it because he missed having casual chats with somebody. Suddenly, a week had passed and they had fallen into a pattern. Phil would stop by every day, normally around lunchtime and come chat to Dan.

Dan began to look forward to Phil’s visits but he never said it out loud.

He didn’t need to because Phil already knew that Dan liked it, even if he tried to push Phil away with snarky comments or half-hearted insults. Phil powered on and gradually, he would open up about his light. It was so liberating to discuss it freely and Dan never made fun of Phil for it. He even seemed to pause his hurtful comments whenever Phil was opening up about his ability to wield magic.

Dan started to let hints drop about himself over the next weeks. It was never much but Phil slowly began to piece together the full picture. It was terrifying to learn that magic had turned Dan into the predator that he’d become because Phil had always seen magic as something good and pure. But maybe the world wasn’t as black and white as Phil would want it to be.

Time seemed to pass all too quickly and suddenly the summer holiday was coming to an end and Phil would have a lot less free time. He was moving out too, in fact his family had just helped log all his belongings into his new flat near the town centre. The place had two bedrooms and Phil’s mother had suggested that he get a roommate. Phil already had one in mind, which was why he moved through the forest with apprehension.

Dan had been counting the days that Phil had come to visit because it gave him something tangible to hold onto. Otherwise, his time in the forest blended together but it was nice now that Phil came to visit. Dan had abandoned the thought of starving himself to death because his body wasn’t decaying at all like it should after not having taken a soul for such a long time. He didn’t quite mind that it kept on working now that Phil stopped by every single day without fail. This would be the 77th time Phil had come to visit.

But something was different that day. There was an air around Phil that hadn’t been there since that second day where he’d sought out Dan with a chocolate chip cookie. He seemed nervous almost, which instantly made Dan feel on edge.

This would be the time that Phil told him that he’d stop coming by and Dan would be alone again. He actually didn’t mind the forest too much, especially not after he’d marked it and claimed it as territory to keep away other soul snatchers but Phil’s visits were the highlight of his day. Now this would be ripped from him too because Dan didn’t deserve nice things. He should just have been happy that it lasted this long but he wanted more. He wanted to keep talking to Phil.

He wanted to supress a smile when Phil made excuses to reach out and touch Dan because while they both had figured out that Phil’s touch calmed Dan, Dan would never ask for it. It was the only thing that could quiet Dan’s loud mind and he’d lose that too.

“Why do you look so grim?” Phil asked as he strode up to Dan, slight nervousness lingering in his limbs.

“No reason,” Dan said with clenched jaw. He would not let Phil see how much this separation would hurt him. He couldn’t do that to Phil. Phil felt like a friend. In fact, he felt like the best friend that Dan had never had… before now.

“Honestly, what is bothering you, Dan? Are you feeling okay? You look a bit ill. Do you have a fever?” Phil babbled on and suddenly reached out to place a hand on Dan’s forehead and Dan embraced the surge of calm that washed over him. He’d miss it so damn much.

Dan was freaking Phil out majorly, so much he’d forgot about why he was sporting sweaty palms. Better to just get to it. Phil took a deep breath and Dan’s head snapped up as his eyes zeroed in on Phil. Sadness played on Dan’s face and Phil wanted to do everything in his power to take it away.

“I actually wanted to talk to you about something, Dan,” Phil begun.

“Okay,” Dan said and braced himself for the hurt and rejection.

“You know I mentioned that I’d move out of my family house when summer ended? Well, I moved house yesterday and it’s quite big for just one person and I don’t particularly like the idea of you sleeping out here, so I wanted to ask if you would like to become my roommate?”

Dan burst out laughing and it was so loud that it startled Phil.

Dan was so damn relieved because Phil was not rejecting him; in fact he was inviting him closer. It was a ridiculous idea, of course, because soul snatchers couldn’t enter other people’s homes. It was one of the only safety precautions against soul snatchers.

“Phil, I’m sorry. I just thought… never mind,” Dan said when his laughter died down. Phil looked at him, clearly wanting a serious answer. “It’s just you know… I can’t actually come into homes, Phil. I told you that last week, remember? Soul snatchers can’t enter homes. Something just blocks us out.”

Phil seemed to contemplate Dan’s words for a moment and then he lit up with that ‘I’ve got a brilliant idea’ look that he’d get sometimes.

“It’s a good thing that you’re not a soul snatcher then, Dan. You’re just Dan and I have no doubt you’d be able to walk into our flat. In fact, I dare you to try it.”

“You want me to try and get into _your_ flat?” Dan said and corrected the personal pronoun. “Phil, that’s ridic…”

“You know, I just think that you’re scared,” Phil took on his taunting voice because he knew Dan wouldn’t be able to resist. “I dare you to try and get into our flat, Howell.”

Phil had only learnt Dan’s last name a couple of days ago and he was still taking up every opportunity to use it.

Phil looked so sure of himself that Dan couldn’t help but accept. It was only when night fell and he found himself walking back with Phil instead of waving him off that he started to worry.

“I don’t think this is a good idea, Phil,” Dan said at they reached the edge of the forest and had a clear view of the town. “I’m having second thoughts.”

“Then you’d be backing out of a dare and that makes you a chicken,” Phil said and nudged his elbow into Dan’s side. Dan focused on the light touch and letting it fill him with comfort.

Phil noticed how Dan froze and then melted at the friendly nudge. Phil always tried to remember to be touchy with Dan because it clearly calmed him. Taking a split decision, he put a hand on the small of Dan’s back and pushed him forward gently.

Dan complied without thinking about it. Phil had gotten him so used to little touches but Dan noticed that this one felt more intimate. However, it was just what he needed as they made their way through the quiet town. Everybody seemed to be inside and eating, which was good because Dan worried about being this close to other souls.

He didn’t feel the hunger though, not with Phil’s light and a constant press against his back. Phil guided him with ease and Dan just let himself follow and force his mind not to over-think.

They came to a stop very near the centre where Phil pulled out a key and opened up. It broke the contact between them and Dan felt nervous all over. It helped when Phil smiled and held the door open for him. This was just a hallway and the doors to the flats lay behind it.

Dan felt the resistance in his body. He wasn’t supposed to be able to get so close to his prey’s resting places but Phil’s encouraging nods made him force his foot forward. He stepped over the threshold.

“See?” Phil exclaimed loudly, so Dan flinched and then shushed him.

Phil couldn’t be happier and he pulled Dan into a brief hug where he squeezed him tightly. Dan was inside, even if he looked vaguely uncomfortable.

“I’m not quite inside of homes yet, Phil. Just a hallway. I’m not sure it’s the same. Magic is weird.”

“Don’t you be mean to magic,” Phil argued as he let go of Dan. Even if he’d slowly grasped Dan’s tumultuous story with magic, he still wouldn’t let anyone badmouth it when his light brought him so much joy and reassurance. “I’m sure you can make it into our flat too. Let me show you.”

Dan followed behind diligently but remained on edge. Phil unlocked the door and pulled it out wide for Dan after stepping through.

Dan took a cautious glance inside. Just from the doorway, he was able to tell this was Phil’s place. He seemed to have a thing for bright colours and Dan recognised many of the little bits and bops that Phil had told him about.

And surprisingly he didn’t feel the resistance that he’d done at the front door. He took one step forward and expected the push to come but there was nothing. Actually, it seemed like the place was pulling him inside or maybe that was just Phil standing in there.

Dan took a steading breath, just to be sure and then moved one foot forward. No resistance at all. He walked right in. His mouth fell agape and he looked behind him several times as to make sure he had in fact just walked into Phil’s flat with no hiccups whatsoever.

“Welcome home, flatmate,” Phil said and he was hugging Dan again. Dan normally fought a bit when Phil wanted to hug him but he couldn’t find it in himself to do so now. _He’d walked right inside!_

Phil wanted Dan to live here too and by some stroke of magic he could. It didn’t make sense but Phil’s arms felt warm and safe around him, so Dan decided that he didn’t care. Magic had screwed him over often enough, so it was only fair that it did something to right the balance.

“Are you sure, Phil? I’ll probably be a horrible flatmate,” Dan said and found his arms coming up to hug Phil back for the first time. Phil had hugged him a few times over the summer but Dan had always kept his arms pinned at his side. Physical affection was still difficult for him because for so long he’d only touched someone when he was consuming their soul. He had no intention of ever doing that to Phil, even if his predatory instincts tried to convince him otherwise.

“Of course, I want you here, Dan. You’ve become my best friend in just a few short months. I miss you all the time when I can stay long during our daily visits in the forest and frankly, I feel a lot safer with you here with me.”

Dan let out a fond chuckle. “Phil, you do realise that I have practically still all my soul snatcher abilities and I’m the most feared monster in the world, right?”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t worry about you. And you’re just Dan to me, silly. How could that squishy face be a monster?” Phil asked and reached forward to poke Dan’s dimple.

It was something Phil had wanted to do for a long time but he’d held back. He didn’t want to hold back anymore and Dan didn’t seem to mind as he grinned and the dimple deepened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked how I originally summarised this part of their lives in the main story but it's quite wonderful to be able to dive further into the details too. I hope you liked this bonus chapter. Do let me know your thoughts if you'd be so kind.
> 
> Unfortunately, I won't be able to update the next two weeks, as I'm on holiday with the family. I debated trying to preschedule and stuff but it's just too much of a fuss and I want a fairly Internet free holiday for once. But I'll post a chapter on the 26th of July.


	4. The Soul Snatcher Who Was Denied Its Meal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It should just have been a fun hike around the forest but with a surprise attack from another soul snatcher, Dan has to embrace his predatory side to fight it off and that's always dangerous when he's near Phil - the perfect meal.

Dan was living at Phil’s place. Dan still couldn’t believe that he’d even been allowed to walk inside of the small space at all. It was clear that someone lived here and Dan could still sense the left over presence of humans resting that usually have felt poisonous for soul snatchers.

He’d tried to get into human’s homes in the past to satisfy his curiosity or chase a particularly appealing magic wielding human. Upon trying to enter through a window, he’d felt as if his skin caught on fire and he’d pulled back instantly and hissed out in an animalistic way.

It was funny that since he’d woken after his decade long rest and Phil’s touch had brought back his mind and memories, he’d started to recall a lot of the things he’d done as a soul snatcher. Generally, he tried his very best not to dwell on the past because he knew it was gruesome and he’d been evil and dangerous and murderous.

If he ever looked back or thought too much about it, Dan wasn’t sure that he’d be able to continue on living, if his limbo presence could even be called that.

Nevertheless, Phil had welcomed him into his home with open arms and even proclaimed that this was _their_ space, not just his. Dan still felt a bit anxious about the whole thing but this place did feel like home. The same heavy lingering of human scent that would usually burn him instead calmed and reassured him, probably because it was not just any human scent but Phil’s scent.

He theorised that perhaps it was because Phil didn’t fear Dan at all. Normal people were terrified of even the idea of soul snatcher before they even saw a glimpse of one in real life. Phil wasn’t like normal people though.

He’d invited the soul-sucking monster to live with him.

Perfectly reasonable decision. Obviously.

Dan’s tough amour was starting to melt away. Just like with Phil’s daily visit to whatever part of the forest he’d been hiding in, Phil would still check up on Dan and often go out of his way to rest a hand on Dan’s shoulder.

Phil’s touch grounded Dan in a way he wasn’t able to properly articulate. It should just activate the need to feed and rip out Phil’s soul but actually that urge mostly grew if he hadn’t had physical contact with Phil in a while.

It was as every touch from Phil reminded Dan’s human side to stay in charge of the monstrous body.

Dan began to spend less and less time out in the forest and more time lounging around at home in the flat reading books that Phil brought him. He wasn’t quite ready to take a stroll around town but he ventured out occasionally when Phil dragged him outside.

Phil was very much an outdoor person and Dan really hadn’t been before he was turned into a soul snatcher and lost the ability to enter populated houses. He’d become a wild animal of sorts and those didn’t get nice warm homes and fussy blankets or someone to watch your back.

Yet Phil insisted on providing all those things to Dan.

One day Phil had insisted that they go on a longer hike and explore deeper into the forest. Dan had moaned about it but eventually agreed. Honestly, he wasn’t sure he even had the ability to deny any request made by Phil but he didn’t let the magic human off too easy. He was still Dan. He planned on complaining the whole way through.

“You’re not taking us near the vein are you?” Dan asked nervously as they began tracking towards the place where they first met.

Dan hadn’t been near it since and he’d warned Phil off it. Soul snatchers always circled around those exposed sources of magic and even with some of Dan’s masking aura concealing Phil, he still very much looked like the perfect prey. When Dan had been living in the forest, he’d marked it as his territory but he’d been gone for weeks and he wasn’t sure if it worked if he wasn’t presented for a prolonged time.

“I told I wouldn’t, so I won’t,” Phil said and rolled his eyes at Dan. “Come on, I’ve heard that there’s a secret waterfall if we keep walking this way.”

“Only for you would I do physical activity,” Dan grumbled.

“You’re literally so fast, you could outrun anything if you tried.”

“Well, I don’t intend to try,” Dan mumbled.

He didn’t like taking off in sprints because it was deeply connected to his predatory tendencies and maximised the control of the soul-sucking monster side. He purposely made his gait very lax and slow, and Phil jogging forward whenever he spotted something, wouldn’t hurry him on.

Phil loved plants so much and he knew the names of almost every plant they came across and he babbled happily to Dan, who listened carefully and enjoyed how Phil’s whole face lit up when he talked.

Phil would sometimes apologise for talking Dan’s ear off but Dan would just wave his hand and tell him not to worry about it because he loved hearing about Phil’s passions. It was true but Dan recognised the way Phil’s shoulders slumped when he realised that he’d ranted a lot.

Dan used to do the same thing. It was a behavioural trait far too easy to develop after being cut off and told that no one cared time after time. Fury curled in Dan’s stomach at the thought that someone had ever dared to tell Phil off for expressing his beautiful mind.

Dan liked watching the sky as they walked and got lost in the way all the different shades of blue combined up there. He’d been living in limbo in the forest for nearly a year and he’d come to study to sky as not to go insane.

Even now it brought him a sense of comfort.

But that had been a mistake.

Dan had let his guard drop too far. He was so comfortable with Phil and feeling particularly human after the excited hug Phil had pulled him into ten minutes ago when Dan had correctly named a plant that Phil had told him about earlier.

He’d stopped being on guard like he was supposed to be. A soul snatcher would never have dropped his guard and been unaware of anything around him. Every swift in the wind should have told him who was around, if he hadn’t been zoning out.

Animals. Humans. Magic humans. And…

… other soul snatchers.

Dan had failed because he hadn’t paid attention and he let himself be in this dream world where it was just him and Phil going for a hike. Phil often made him feel like they were the only two people in the world.

Phil had jogged up ahead because he’d spotted a rare flower and he had to get a closer look. Dan had been trailing behind him while glancing up at the sky but he never moved fast. Phil practically had to interlink their arms and drag Dan along for them to have any chance to make it to this secret waterfall.

Phil loved going exploring with Dan, almost as much as he loved having the brunet move into his new place. The flat hadn’t felt like a home until Dan had stepped inside. Phil still could see Dan’s shocked face when he stepped over the threshold without any resistance.

Phil knew that his light would allow Dan to come inside. Phil’s magic was a part of him and since he trusted Dan, why should it keep him out?

But just like Dan, Phil had also gotten comfortable and let his guard drop. He could always sense the slight buzzing of Dan in the air and perhaps that was why he didn’t notice a second similar but stronger buzzing nearing the two of them.

If he’d been aware, he’d probably have been able to slow down time, just like he had when Dan had originally launched an attack but Phil had been too preoccupied with the flower and with his blossoming friendship to the reluctant but reformed soul snatcher accompanying him.

There had been a soul snatcher lurking and it was an old and powerful one. It had sensed Phil, not as a _light_ but as a magic wielding human nonetheless. Dan had masked Phil’s true power but Phil’s mannerism still let every soul snatcher know that he was capable of wielding magic.

Phil was tackled to the ground and he froze up. His light hadn’t warned him of the attack in time.

Dan saw the movement and he felt truly terrified for the first time in his life. He hadn’t actually known fear like this before. He’d never cared for someone else like he cared for Phil, even if he wasn’t ready to admit it to anyone… let alone himself.

Phil had saved him and he had made Dan feel comfortable with being himself. He could not lose that beam of sunshine but a member of his species had Phil in its clutches and it was about to turn really bad.

Dan’s soul snatcher instincts ticked in and he evaluated the foe in an instant.

It was over a hundred years old, very strong but not too desperate for a feed as it hadn’t been long ago since it had woken. Usually, the ability to evaluate other soul snatchers shouldn’t have been used to figure out how to save magic human but to fight for who got to consume the prey.

Dan had no intention of consuming Phil, but he most certainly had no intention of allowing anyone to get their grubby hands on his precious human.

Phil was about to launch a push with his magic. His light was begging him to attack this assailant right this second. It felt so different from when Dan had jumped him, he recalled, as the current situation triggered the memory that he hadn’t had proper access to for a long time.

Unfortunately, the comparison to Dan’s attack also nipped Phil’s planned attack in the butt, even if he did manage to make time slow down now.

Dark eyes loomed over him and the mouth was pulled back in a snarl and the attacker didn’t look human at all. The eyes were haunting but completely void of anything. Dan hadn’t looked like that once? Had he?

Phil felt so scared and confused because he kept thinking of Dan when he was watching this soul snatcher’s face.

Dan couldn’t understand why Phil wasn’t doing anything. Furious and scared, Dan started running and felt the build-up inside of him.

The soul snatcher had its hand on Phil’s chest and no, no, Dan wouldn’t make it. He wouldn’t be able to save Phil because this soul snatcher wasn’t wasting any time. Dan still remembered how the impact with Phil had touched him, knocked his predatory tendencies off balance but he could see no signs of that happening here.

The soul snatcher was very much still a predator and Phil acted liked a prey too petrified to move.

And then the scent of Phil’s powerful magic filled the air. The soul snatcher had opened up the access to Phil’s chest and the smell in the air was intoxicating. The masking aura seemed to stop concealing the power from within Phil and Dan almost lost his footing.

Consume.

Feed.

Fight.

Predatory instincts at the forefront of his mind, Dan ran as fast as he could and grabbed hold of the soul snatcher’s tattered robes. He tossed the soul snatcher, which smaller than himself but felt stronger in power.

Hissing, the soul snatcher rolled over and sprung to its feet while barring its teeth at Dan.

Dan was so done with this. Phil was his meal. Channelling a fury already formed in his stomach, Dan roared loudly and his damaged masking aura became visible, only it wasn’t black like normal when he made it visible. It was bright red.

The soul snatcher pulled back slightly but it wasn’t about to give up the meal of a lifetime, who was still sitting frozen just behind Dan.

Phil didn’t know what to do or what to think when Dan had sprung to the rescue and pulled the soul snatcher off him. His chest still felt weird and vulnerable and Dan look outright terrifying like that.

His masking smoke had become visible and it was red like blood and it struck a cord deep inside of Phil. His light actually shuddered at the sight.

Dan moved closer to the soul snatcher.

“Go!” he demanded and he didn’t care that the other soul snatcher likely couldn’t respond. Maybe it could, if touching Phil had had the same effect that it did when Dan first touched him.

The soul snatcher just sneered and hissed something that vaguely resembled a “no!”

Dan took a breath to even out his nerves and then smiled wickedly as the red smoke pooled around him.

“He’s mine,” Dan growled. “I don’t care that you’re older.”

He didn’t care that he was only partly soul snatcher and probably not a match for the predator seizing him up. He was angry and protective and he wouldn’t let anyone go near his Phil.

In a split decision, Dan jumped and Phil would have admired the elegance if he were not frozen with fear over this whole situation.

Dan made contact with the soul snatcher and tore at its chest with all of his power, trying to rip the vessel apart with pure fury. The soul snatcher cried out, painfully like a hurt animal and when Dan let go, it scrambled back and took off. Dan knew that it wouldn’t dare to come back.

Soul snatchers weren’t able to kill each other but tearing at where they stored the souls they collected hurt. Dan had gotten into a scuffle his first year and he’d never made the mistake to let any soul snatcher get close ever again.

The threat scared off, he turned to face Phil who was plopped up on his elbows but still very much on the forest ground. Dan still felt the emission of Phil’s _glow_ from the centre of his chest. He was always aware of it because he was the one who’d concealed it but seeing it laid out bare like that still did nothing good for the predator side of Dan.

Dan looked utterly chilling like that with the red smoke pooled around his form and Phil couldn’t dare to make a move. Phil zeroed in on Dan’s face and saw to his horror that the boy’s face looked different.

It wasn’t rosy cheeks and warm brown eyes with slivers of glow inside of them. Dan’s face was pale and his eyes were black just like the other soul snatcher. Phil flinched when Dan took a step towards him. His mind went back to the malice he’d seen in eyes similar just a moment ago.

He hadn’t seen Dan’s all dark eyes since he was a kid and he could not remember them seeming so angry and stern.

It felt like something broke inside of Dan when Phil flinched as he neared. Dan’s soul might not really be there anymore but the remnants that Phil had brought life into were hurt to see the bright boy shudder at his approach.

He might have lost Phil.

“Your eyes are black,” Phil said and the boy sounded scared, not just scared of the situation but scared of Dan.

“Oh,” Dan responded because he hadn’t realised but he also didn’t know how that had happened. He could still feel the pull towards Phil and the urges inside that told him that he’d won the fight over the prey and now it was time to go and claim his price.

Evening out his breathing Dan tried his best to calm down. His masking aura went invisible again and he felt more in control.

“Are they still black?” Dan asked as he carefully opened his eyes again.

“Yes,” Phil said and his breathing hitched.

Dan hung his shoulders in defeat and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologising?” Phil asked. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

He did. He always did something wrong. Frankly, he seemed to only do things wrong.

Finally, it sounded like Phil was getting to his feet but Dan didn’t want to open his eyes when the sight of them seemed to make Phil’s breathing laboured and hesitant.

“Dan, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Phil repeated.

“I did!” Dan snapped, eyes opening, and Phil looked scared.

“Dan…”

“Are you scared of me, Phil?” Dan voiced his deepest insecurity. He’d been waiting for the shoe to drop this whole time. One day, Phil would wake up and realise who he’d invited into his life. He’d cast Dan out like the monster he was and Dan would be all alone and stuck in this limbo where he couldn’t die but he wouldn’t consume souls either.

Phil wanted to say that he wasn’t. His light told him that he wasn’t. His human instincts told him that it was a predator before him that could rip him apart if it so chose. But it wasn’t a predator. It was his Dan, the only person who’d ever seem to get who Phil was and care for him, despite the weirdness.

“I’m not scared of you, even if my body acts like it is. My light isn’t scared of you and that’s the purest form within me. I could never truly be scared of you, Dan.”

Dan drew out a shaky breath and tried to pretend that Phil’s confession hadn’t mattered as much as it had. Truth was that he’d needed to hear that.

“We have to close your chest,” Dan stated and kept his eyes averted as he tried to make his presence as small as possible. The soul snatcher within him roared to take control and claim Phil’s soul but Dan couldn’t let those thoughts win.

Phil looked down to his chest and saw that it glimmered and glittered widely. It looked like a vein of exposed magic. He felt tempted to touch it but decided that probably wasn’t a good call. He took a few hesitant steps towards Dan instead, who kept his head down.

Dan looked so sad and defeated but his eyes had looked hungry and vicious. It was probably Phil’s reaction that seemed to be the reason that Dan didn’t want to open his eyes again.

“How do we close my chest?” Phil asked.

“I… I think that…” Dan seemed to have trouble finding the right words. He stuttered a few more times before he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes tightly shut. “I think I have to close it. I can use the same thing that I would use to open it.”

Phil gulped at that. He didn’t particularly trust anyone near his exposed magic, not when it made him feel so vulnerable. However, he did trust Dan. He’d trusted Dan the instant he met him and his light had never steered him wrong.

And again, his light was telling him that Dan wasn’t bad. Dan wasn’t bad, even if he had hungry black eyes or produced fear inducing red smoke. He was just Dan. It was still the same guy who refused to wake up before noon and talked with Phil as if they’d known each other forever.

“I trust you.”

Phil’s words made Dan slowly open his eyes and look directly at him for the first time in minutes, but even if Phil did a slight flinch as Dan’s gaze fell upon him, he quickly relaxed again.

“Your eyes are still black but I still trust you,” Phil explained.

“I’m not sure I’m very trustworthy right now, Phil,” Dan said and took a cautious step closer. _Consume_ , it screamed in his mind. “I’m not too well in control of myself at the moment. I’ve still got residual anger in my system and reverting back to my old ways isn’t that easy to shake off.”

Phil didn’t flinch as Dan stepped closer and came to a stop just an arm’s length away from his exposed chest.

“I still trust you, Dan. I know you. You’d never hurt me. You just got so angry because you thought someone would hurt me,” Phil said in an attempt to calm Dan’s nerves.

Phil was looking at him so earnestly that he just felt even more horrible for the voices in his head telling him to attack Phil.

His soul snatcher body yearned for Phil’s powerful magic soul but Dan needed Phil’s soul to stay inside of the gorgeous boy who hadn’t given up on him. He needed Phil.

“Here goes,” Dan said in a light voice, hoping to lighten the mood when his palm made contact with Phil’s chest.

Dan fought the instincts telling him to pull, to consume, which he stubbornly ignored. However, he didn’t push either like the last time he’d access to Phil like this. Instead, he just tried to focus on closing the magical wound. He thought about protecting Phil. He thought about how much this human mattered to him.

The wound closed easily under Dan’s fingertips and Dan carefully pulled back his hands from Phil bare chest. The magical wound had ripped Phil’s shirt open but now there was no longer an open glowing wound but rather smooth pale skin.

Phil watched Dan intensely and saw the concentration on the brunet’s face. His eyes seemed alive and moving, contracting and expanding. When Dan finally pulled back and broke contact, Dan’s eyes were brown and warm again and Phil even saw the tiny slivers of glow inside of them. Dan’s chest rose with exhaustion and his cheeks dimpled as he grinned and the rosy patch was back too.

Dan was back to his “normal” self.

Phil was so overjoyed that he embraced Dan into a tight hug.

Startled but grateful, Dan cautiously returned the hug.

“I take it my eyes went brown again?” Dan asked and felt laughter bubble up in his chest with hope.

“Sure did,” Phil muttered into Dan’s shoulder and that sent Dan over the edge. He burst out laughing and Phil followed a moment later.

None of them were sure quite why they were laughing but it felt like the perfect way to get out with all the tension.

On the way back, Dan felt it necessary to repeat his question from earlier.

“You’re not scared of me, Phil, right?”

“I told you before, Dan,” Phil said and knocked their shoulders together and the contact reassured Dan that Phil meant what he was saying. “I trust you not to hurt me.”

“Okay,” Dan nodded and took the liberty of knocking their shoulder together once more, just for the surge of comfort he knew it would bring. They were okay.

Dan had been vicious in his attack but Phil recognised that it stemmed from a place of wanting to keep Phil safe at all costs. Phil wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve such fierce protection from Dan.

Phil had seen him at his worst and he still held the door open for Dan when they returned home to the flat. Phil hadn’t given up on him.

The following day, Dan went out into the forest and worked on expanding his masking aura to cloud the whole town and surrounding area. He had no intention of letting any soul snatchers within a mile of Phil ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo! I'm back from holiday. And I'm not going to lie, I love this chapter a whole lot. I love bringing to light the whole predator and pray thing from how they met but by now Dan would never allow himself to hurt Phil, no matter what dark thoughts demand. That initial scene of them meeting with Phil as a child and Dan intending to consume him, was what started this whole story and it's nice to write parallels to back then. I hope you liked it too! Do let me know your thoughts in the comments below? Pretty please?
> 
> Next update on Wednesday 2nd of August!


	5. The Best Friend Who Restored His Faith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan having regained his humanity was a wonderful thing. However, it also meant that suppressed memories surfaced and he had to remember what he did as a soulless predator and that took a toll on his restored soul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for suicidal thoughts. It's not graphic at all but Dan gets really affected about his previous monstrous actions.

Living with Phil felt like living in a dream world. Dan felt comfortable and normal and the weeks just blended together into months. Late summer turned into autumn and soon enough the red and yellow leaves begun to drop from the tree, signalling that winter wasn’t too far away.

Phil would go to university during the day. He studied history and Dan had made a point not to comment on how many of the texts he brought home were focussed magic and dark creatures. Dan knew Phil was still so curious about the background of magic and why no one seemed to want to talk about it. But what he brought home wasn’t his assigned reading material, more likely he’d used his access to search the dark corners of the library.

Dan tried not to think about it too much. He didn’t like to dwell on his past and while he always tried to be candid when Phil came to him with brimming questions, Dan found himself snapping at Phil every so often. Dan didn’t want to explain because explaining meant calling attention to the thing at his core that he was trying to avoid.

Being outside in the forest watching the leaves fall from trees while reinforcing his masking aura protection helped calm Dan’s mind. That’s where he usually went if he needed to get out of the flat when Phil was at university.

“Excuse me?” a young voice asked and Dan startled, too caught up in his own thoughts.

He should really work on that. His former predator self was probably humiliated that he kept getting so distracted and his present self reminded him of the run in with the soul snatcher not that long ago. He should really work on it.

“Yes?” Dan called out instead and spun around to see a teenage boy staring at him. The boy had blonde hair and green eyes and couldn’t be more than seventeen years old. Something sunk in Dan’s gut because this kid brought horrible memories to the surface.

The kid had some level of _glow_ humming under his skin but that wasn’t even the problem. Dan had gotten better at not reacting to that and his mind didn’t start spurting murderous thoughts at him.

Or maybe it was because it was busy crushing him from the inside.

Dan tried very hard not to think about the twelve souls he’d consumed before he’d met Phil. He’d taken innocent people’s lives, even if he hadn’t been in control per say, and something about this kid made his skin tingle.

“What are you doing out here?” Dan asked because the kid was just looking at him with furrowed eyebrows. Dan briefly worried his eyes had flashed black or something but then the kid would probably have run away screaming.

“I’m sorry, I’m just not used to anyone being out here,” the blond boy answered. “I’m just here to lay flowers for my mother.”

At the boy’s last word, it felt like something fractured inside of Dan and as he glanced at the flowers, neatly bound together and the grief on the boy’s face, something clicked.

Knowing he would be unable to keep the tremble out of his voice, Dan just nodded and made to leave but the boy called out and Dan’s feet felt firmly rooted in place.

“Did you lose someone too? To the soul snatchers?” the boy continued and knelt down to place the bouquet next to a tree. “It’s been twelve years since I lost my mother. I hardly remember her but Dad tells me stories sometimes.”

Dan wanted to sprint off or at the very least go get Phil because he was not equipped for this conversation. Not as the memories came flooding back into his consciousness. Normally, he was happy to remember, a privilege he’d been without as a soul snatcher, but not like this.

He knew why he remembered the kid. Dan had tried to hunt him all those years ago. He’d stumbled upon a family of three, mother, father and a kid with _glow_. The mother had been foolish and self-sacrificing but her actions had protected her boy because Dan had left after taking her soul.

“Phil…” Dan muttered under his breath and desperately wished he had any of the summoning powers he knew Phil did if he applied himself.

“Did you lose him?” the kid asked, having caught Dan’s mutter even though it hadn’t been louder than a whisper.

“No…” Dan admitted. “But I almost did. I’m sorry about your mother, kid. I’m so, so sorry.”

Dan almost found himself wishing he were the emotionless void that he’d been when he’d taken this kid’s mother. He was hurting in a way he didn’t even know he could hurt. The mother’s soul was long gone by now but souls had a way of leaving a trace. Soul snatchers stored them and lived off the energy until they had exploited it and Dan’s extraordinary long rest had consumed all his extra deposits.

Still something from inside of him called out as he watched the kid of the woman he’d consumed.

“It’s not your fault,” the kid said and Dan wanted to scream that yes, it bloody well was but he’d have sounded insane and it would make no sense to the boy. It would only make things worse.

“I’m still sorry,” Dan said instead.

“Dad said she was really brave, you know?” the kid continued, seemingly a little off balance and surprised that he was telling this to Dan. “She fought it head-on to save us. To save me,” the boy sniffled.

Suddenly, there was movement in the edge of Dan’s awareness and Dan immediately recognised Phil’s energy.

Phil had been sitting at the library with a study group when he’d felt a sharp pull in his chest. His light was acting up in a new way. It felt vaguely like that time he’d tried to communicate with Carly without words but different as well. Phil had excused himself from the studying claiming a migraine onset and apologising profusely.

He normally felt a constant little pull towards Dan but as he exited the library, Phil recognised the pull as a distress signal from Dan.

Something was seriously upsetting his best friend and Phil concentrated his light and making sure no one saw him, Phil teleported to where he could sense Dan.

To say he was surprised to find Dan chatting with a teenager while looking like he was about to bawl his eyes out would have been an understatement. Thankfully, Phil hadn’t plopped down right in front of them, but a short distance away, and it seemed like he just walked over there rather than teleporting.

“Dan?” Phil asked as he moved closer.

Dan’s head snapped up and in a beat, Dan was flinging himself into Phil’s arms. Dan had gotten better with initiating physical contact when upset but this was the most extreme Phil had ever experienced. Dan’s whole body was trembling like an aspen leaf. Phil wondered if Dan had been on the brink of losing control because the teenager, now looking at them with a small smile, surely exuded magic, even if it was underdeveloped and shoved deep down.

Phil closed his arms around Dan and gave him the comfort he sought. It didn’t make sense for Dan to be worried about losing control though, because Dan had interacted with more powerful magic wielding humans without any problems.

“I take it that you’re Phil?” the boy asked and Phil just nodded.

Dan was clinging onto Phil like his life depended on it. His emotions were running haywire and he needed something to ground him. The remnants of the mother’s soul told Dan to reach out for the teenager but that would only make things worse.

“I am,” Phil replied. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset your friend. I wasn’t thinking when I brought up soul snatchers. I know it’s a sore subject for many but I don’t know… for some reason I just babble today.”

Phil nodded; even if still didn’t fully understand what had made Dan react like that.

“I’ll leave you alone,” the boy said but not before crouching down to trace his fingers against the flowers of a beautiful bouquet balanced against a tree. “I miss you, mum.”

Dan didn’t let go until five minutes after the boy had left. Only then did it feel like his airways were constricted with grief and guilt. Phil’s embrace helped a lot, like it always did but something empty inside of him wouldn’t quiet down.

“What was that all about?” Phil asked but Dan just pulled back and wiped his running nose and red-rimmed eyes with his sleeve.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Dan said sternly.

Phil frowned but he didn’t push. He knew Dan and he’d need time to process whatever this was. He’d tell Phil when he was ready. Phil physically bit down on his tongue as his curiosity tried to get the best of him. Dan was clearly shaken in a way Phil hadn’t seen him before.

“Can we go home?” Dan asked in a small voice and Phil immediately obliged, reaching out and teleporting them straight back home into their living room. Dan flinched as he realised his surroundings changed.

Phil would occasionally test out the limits to his magic, he was yet to find any, and Dan was a somewhat unwilling participant sometimes. Dan still didn’t fully trust magic but he smiled gratefully as he realised he’d been spared the walk through town.

He sulked off to his room and shut the door gently but still sending a very clear message.

Phil didn’t like it one bit. Dan wasn’t good on his own for too long. He’d get all caught up in his own head and dark thoughts would threaten to overtake.

While he still wasn’t sure what had happened in the forest with the green-eyed boy, Phil knew that it had unsettled Dan. Phil wanted to be there for his best friend but Dan’s closed door felt like a magical barrier that Phil didn’t even dare to approach.

He was always pushing Dan’s boundaries but the fractured look on Dan’s face as Phil arrived, made him take pause. He’d give Dan some time to come to him on his own.

The fact that Dan seemed to develop night terrors didn’t help Phil’s decision one bit. Dan slept little to begin with, probably some layover with the fact that soul snatchers never slept. They just stalked their pray until they’d consumed a soul and then they rested for weeks at a time.

But Phil was a fairly light sleeper thanks to his light keeping him alert, so he noticed when Dan begun to whimper next door or the supressed mutters of pain. Phil briefly considered going in there and cuddling up next to him in the hope that the constant touch would calm Dan.

However, that felt too much like crossing over to a territory that Phil wasn’t sure that Dan would be comfortable with. They were friends first and foremost and Phil knew that Dan was still slightly worried about losing control and trying to hurt Phil, even if the brunet would never admit it.

Dan had thought he was being subtle about it, since Phil never confronted him. He’d go out for longer periods of time, suddenly thankful that Phil had to spend a lot of time at university for upcoming exams rather than annoyed he’d have less time with his best friend.

Seeing the teenager in the forest had been a grim reminder of Dan’s past. He’d killed people. He was a murderer. He’d ripped souls, the most precious thing imaginable, from other people effectively ending their lives.

He spent some time cursing out magic, which had got him into this situation in the first place but it didn’t last too long. Phil was magic too and Dan really wouldn’t hold a grudge against something so important to the only person Dan truly cared about.

Phil kept a close eye on him but he hadn’t said anything. He was quick to mask the hurt when Dan flinched away from a touch that Dan would normally melt into.

It lasted a week until Phil couldn’t stand it anymore. He knocked on Dan’s closed bedroom door. It was always closed these days and Phil didn’t like it one bit.

“Yes?” Dan called out but clearly didn’t move to get up and open the door for Phil.

“I need to talk to you, Dan,” Phil said and wished that he didn’t sound so serious.

“Go away, Phil,” Dan said and Phil didn’t want to admit how much the rejection stung. Dan was being a little shit, avoiding whatever was bothering him instead of facing it.

“You can’t hide in there forever, Dan. I miss you. You have to deal with whatever happed with that boy last week. This can’t go on. You need to move on.”

“I can’t, Phil,” Dan’s voice sounded contorted through the door but Phil thought he heard a sob following the sounds.

“Deal with this on your own or come talk to me, Dan, but you have to do something,” Phil said and huffed annoyed. He wasn’t sure what to do. His light told him to get in there and just make Dan talk and confide in him but Phil didn’t want to impose on Dan in their home. He was allowed space, no matter how much Phil hated the distance that had grown between them this past week.

The following morning, Dan was gone when Phil woke up. Phil was slightly worried but it wasn’t unlike Dan to go out by himself. He went to the forest fairly often and it seemed like his private contemplation time, so Phil hadn’t pushed him for information. Hopefully, it meant that Dan was sorting out his shit like Phil had suggested.

When Dan wasn’t home in the evening, Phil began to become nervous. He paced around for a couple of hours, burning their dinner, before he gave up and teleported to the forest. He didn’t have a clear read on Dan but he knew him and where he went in the forest.

Dan had been sitting in the same spot all day, just wallowing in the terribleness of his past actions.

How could someone as bright as Phil even talk to a monster like Dan? Sure, Phil appeared naïve at times but Dan knew he was far from stupid – in fact, he was incredibly smart – so he had to know that Dan had taken souls before. He kept brushing off Dan’s past whenever it was brought up but if he knew what kind of monster he was sharing a home with…

The sun had come up and gone down again and Dan hadn’t even noticed. He only looked up from the patch of ground in front of his feet when he heard Phil call his name. Phil called his name out cautiously and Dan saw the worry etched into his only friend’s face.

Dan looked terrible sitting on the cold ground, knees pulled to his chest and a heart-breaking expression painted on his pale face. Phil didn’t even hesitate before sitting down next to him, close enough to touch but keeping his hands to himself for the moment.

Dan had to be slightly touch-starved by now and Dan had confessed that Phil’s touch made him feel more human, so Phil might be dealing with a more predatory side of Dan than usual. He should probably keep his guard up and stay alert but this was Dan and Phil didn’t truly believe that Dan would ever hurt him.

“You shouldn’t be out here, Phil. Monsters lurk in the dark,” Dan muttered. It would be so much easier if he just ceased to exist. He was a bad person. He’d done so much bad that he deserved to be punished from. He might not have been in control of his actions as a soul snatcher but it was his stupid arse that had decided to touch a vein of exposed magic that had started this whole thing. His stupidity had gotten people killed.

“You’re the only one around here and you’re not a monster,” Phil said and reached over to pat Dan’s knee.

The contact instantly washed over Dan, calming him and it lifted the heavy weight in his chest. How long had it been since Dan had been able to breathe? He knew he had to talk to Phil. He couldn’t deal with this on his own, no matter how much he wished that he could.

He didn’t want to burden Phil and he also didn’t want to scare him off, which was selfish of him to begin with. If he lost Phil, then he’d truly have nothing left.

“The blond teenager?” Dan said.

“Yeah?” Phil encouraged and kept his hand firmly on Dan’s knee.

“I killed his mother. I took her soul.”

Phil wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting but that hadn’t been it. His first thought was to gasp and recoil but his light hummed strongly and he just tightened his grip on Dan’s knee.

It was so easy to forget that Dan had been going around soul snatching when Phil was just a young boy. Dan hadn’t given Phil an exact number but he knew that he’d been active for a year or two before meeting Phil and going into a twelve-year slumber that had changed his nature.

“Oh?” Phil found himself saying, keeping his voice neutral.

Dan sighed but powered on because at least Phil didn’t sound horrified. Besides, he deserved to know the kind of person he’d invited into his life.

“I know I’ve been… cagey about answering questions about taking souls whenever you’ve asked me, Phil. It’s not to be rude or withholding but it’s something that haunts me when I think about it too much. Before… I didn’t feel emotions like guilt. I just took. Consumed. But now, I can feel the shadow images in my core of the souls I’ve snatched and lived off of. When I saw that boy, something inside of me called out frantically. His mother’s soul is gone, changed into energy but souls are powerful things that never quite go away.”

Dan was surprised that he could explain without stumbling too much over his words but his voice sounded cold and detached, so perhaps it was because he was doing his best to keep his pesky emotions under control.

“I should pay for what I did to those innocent people, Phil. I should be sentenced to death for the twelve souls I’ve consumed. It’s not fair that I’m still here when I ended their lives,” Dan finished and against his better judgement felt his body slump against Phil, who embraced him instantly despite everything that had just been revealed.

Phil didn’t know what to say so he just squeezed Dan tightly as the boy almost flopped into his arms. Phil had never expected Dan to have this self-hatred within him, even if he could understand where Dan was coming from.

But taking those lives that hadn’t been Dan. It hadn’t been the Dan that had scarified everything to save Phil’s life regardless of what would happen to himself. Phil could still hear Dan’s words from when Phil had found him in the forest for the second time and he explained to Phil why he’d saved his life.

_I didn’t want to go back to being a soulless soul snatcher after that. I wanted to die, like that, like I was human._

The second Dan had gotten his humanity back; he’d tried to right the wrongs of what he’d done. He couldn’t even fathom going back to the soulless predator that had ruled his life since magic ripped his soul away.

Dan had wanted so desperately to be human, to be himself again.

“You shouldn’t die, Dan,” Phil said calmly. “You dying wouldn’t bring them back or change the past. You can’t change what happened but it wasn’t you. Something dark and twisted took over who you used to be and you’ve done nothing but good deeds since you became yourself again.”

Dan snorted and it sounded wet. Phil squeezed him a little tighter.

“I should die, Phil. I’m an abomination. Caught between being soulless and running on residual energy from your _glow_. I can’t starve to death like I was supposed to when I didn’t consume a soul. My body should have withered and fallen away to nothing but it didn’t. I tried to make myself stop existing after I came back from my rest and realised I’d been gone for a over decade. Everything would have been so much easier if I had just died, Phil. Don’t you see that? You’d be safe, living your glorious life without having to worry about me. I feel the lingering glances that you think you hide. You should kill me.”

Phil couldn’t stand hearing Dan talk like this and he shifted their position. He placed his hands on either side of Dan’s face and gently tilted his head so they looked into each other’s eyes.

“I am happy to have you in my life, Dan. You’re my best friend. I care about you in ways I can’t even articulate. You should not die as some sort of punishment for your past. If you want to do something, consider what you can do to make it better. I know you’re out here protecting the town, even if I don’t know how you do it. You’re scaring away soul snatcher that threaten innocent souls. That’s that right thing to do. The right thing is never to die.”

A tear from Dan’s left eye spilled over and Phil quickly swiped it away with his thumb. Dan looked so vulnerable, young and human like that, face cradled in Phil’s hands.

“You don’t care I killed innocent souls?” Dan asked, his voice sounding hoarse and heavy with barely contained tears.

“That wasn’t you, Dan. Remember? I saw your predator self but that wasn’t you and we both know that.”

“It was still my fault though. I touched the vein of magic. I brought it upon myself,” Dan whispered.

“You couldn’t know, Dan. How? People still doesn’t have a fucking clue that that’s how soul snatchers come to exist. You were young and curious, that’s hardly a crime.”

“But how to I live with the guilt, Phil?” Dan’s voice was practically pleading.

Phil didn’t have a clean-cut answer. Frankly, he wasn’t sure how but he needed to tell Dan something.

“You get up everyday and try to make the world a better place. I know you’ve noticed all the old magic related books that I’ve dragged home to the flat. Help me make a difference. Together we can educate and warn people. That’s how we can make sure it doesn’t happen in the future. We need to learn from our history.”

Dan breathed out and his shoulders sagged forward. He looked a little more at ease than before.

“Do you truly believe that we can do that, Phil? I mean… I’m sure you can because you can do anything you set your mind to but I’m not like you. You don’t need me to shine brightly, I’m just dimming your glow.”

“No, you’re not,” Phil insisted. “That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve never been as motivated or happy as since you walked into my life half a year ago. You’re the one pushing me to do more, Dan. I can’t do this without you. I don’t care that you said my light is the brightest and strongest you’ve ever seen. I need you just as much as you need me.”

“Where does all that faith come from?” Dan chuckled but it didn’t sound as hopeless and hollow as before.

“You,” Phil said truthfully. “You defied your nature, Dan, and no, that’s not my light’s doing – trust me. You broke free and saved a young boy’s life when I should have been dead in an instant. You live and you fight and you do so much impossible stuff every single day. You’re the one who’s reminding me that the impossible can be done. You’re a reformed soul snatcher and every time I look at you, I see the future, a future where wielding magic isn’t something to hide but to display proudly. A world where you don’t have to be afraid of how you were born, a world where you don’t have to let anyone dictate who you are, a world where you get to make you own choices.”

Dan looked up at Phil’s in awe. Phil was still pressing his hands into Dan’s cheeks and Dan never wanted to move. With every word, Phil brought Dan back down because Phil was always right and killing himself wasn’t the right answer. He had to live with the guilt, turn it into a motivational force instead of a crippling one. He couldn’t change what had happened but he could change his future.

And Phil wanted to change the future with Dan right by his side. Dan didn’t doubt for a moment that Phil would be capable of doing just that. In Dan’s eyes, there really weren’t anything that Phil couldn’t do.

And for some odd, reason Phil wanted Dan there by his side. Nay, needed him, according to the man’s own words. If Phil believed in Dan so much, there was no way he would allow himself to give up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? It's a part of his past that he'll never be able to leave behind and it's honestly breaking my heart to write him so sad. Gosh, I'm so glad Dan has Phil to reassure him. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter? I'd really appreciate it. :)


	6. The Family Meets The Reformed Soul Snatcher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil didn't like the idea of Dan spending Christmas alone so inviting him home to spend time with Phil's family seemed like a perfectly reasonable idea. Other than the fact that no one could know about Dan's past and that Dan himself didn't want to meet the Lesters and Carly.

This was a horrible idea. This was the worst idea that Phil had ever had.

“This is the worst idea you’ve ever had, Phil, and I’m not doing it,” Dan said sternly and promptly returned his attention back to the book in his hands.

“Come on, Dan. It’ll be fine! You’ve met my friends from university before, remember?” Phil nudged.

“That’s different. That was for like ten minutes and they couldn’t care less about your odd flatmate. Your family would, especially if you were bringing me home for Christmas. Even without the whole I’m a former soul snatcher thing, it would just be plain awkward. Who would bring a friend to spend Christmas with his family?” Dan argued.

“I would, if my best friend didn’t have any family, at least any he would want to speak of. Oh wait… I do,” Phil insisted, and stopped his pacing back and worth to drop down on the sofa next to Dan.

They’d been going over the newest bunch of books on magic that Phil had brought back from the library when Phil had casually mentioned that Dan should go home with him for Christmas. He said it in the same tone he asked what Dan wanted for dinner, for bloody sake, as if it was totally normal and not utterly bizarre.

Phil practically melted into Dan’s side, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing. It was unfair. Phil knew how much Dan liked having Phil near and that touch usually made him much more pliable and likely to agree to Phil’s schemes. Phil’s touch brought Dan’s humanity into focus and always reminded Dan how much he cared for Phil.

“Get off,” Dan said, and with much hesitance he gave Phil a shove, “I know what you’re doing. You’re not going to convince me, Phil. I’ll be fine here on my own. You’ll be gone for literally a day.”

“I’d miss you after just a day,” Phil said earnestly and Dan just grumbled but Phil knew that Dan would miss him too. They’d become awfully co-dependent after moving in together but neither of them really minded.

“Besides, if we did, and that’s a huge fucking if, then what would we tell them about me? Should we say the same we told your friends? I was taking a gap year and decided to backbag through the land and I ran into you while you were hiking in the forest? And you just happened to have moved into a new two-bedroom place and I just happened to be looking for somewhere to live? That wasn’t your finest moment.”

Dan chuckled at the memory. Phil had been looking terrified when his friends had asked how they knew each other, since it was pretty odd to move in with someone you didn’t know beforehand.

“Hey, I didn’t have time to think. And it’s close to the truth. We did meet in the forest and I might not have been hiking but I was out exploring and you were roaming around. The best lies are partly true or something like that. You know I’m a horrible liar but the people didn’t care.”

Of course, they didn’t care. Phil had a calm and friendly air about him that made people want to believe everything that left his lips. Phil could literally say that he had a tail and people would probably be like, ‘aw, that’s adorable.’

Phil couldn’t understand why Dan was putting up this much of a fight. But he knew that Dan never wanted to talk about the family that he left behind when he had realised what had happened to him. Over time, Phil had picked up on bits of information, like the fact that he had a younger brother, who was able to wield magic. But Dan had never looked back.

He’d used his last bit of human awareness to put as much space as possible between himself and his younger brother to spare his family member’s soul. Phil had added that to his mental growing list of things that made Dan the best and bravest person he ever knew.

“I might not even be able to get into the house. It’s not your house anymore, it’s your parents’ and I assume they are sensibly terrified of soul snatchers considering one of their children came out glowing.”

“It’s still my home too, Dan. I know it won’t be a problem. Trust me. My family won’t care about the cover story either, Dan. Carly will be there too, because she doesn’t have any other family either, so it’s not that weird. Us Lesters welcome strays with open arms.”

Dan flinched at the stray part and Phil hushed to apologise.

“I know you didn’t mean it like that, Phil,” Dan said and waved him off. “It’s fine. I just don’t think it’s a good idea. You said that Carly was strong, right? What if I lose control or something?”

Phil wanted to point out that Dan hadn’t struggled with staying in control minus that blip in the forest where a soul snatcher had ripper open Phil’s chest. Dan didn’t even look twice after the people Phil sensed when they walked around town. He seemed to be perfectly in control. Hence, he was using it as an excuse and neglecting to tell Phil the real reason.

“Aside from the arguments about it being odd, which I just assured you that it would not be, and worry about your potential loss of control, which I haven’t seen any evidence of at all, and the fear you might not be able to step into the house, which my light tells me won’t be a problem, why don’t you want to go spend Christmas with me, Dan?”

Dan looked deeply guilty and something passed over his face that Phil couldn’t quite identify.

“I’ll do it, just stop pestering me,” Dan huffed out eventually, and pointedly diverted his attention back to his book.

Phil wasn’t too thrilled about the lack of enthusiasm but he’d get over it. Dan had agreed. He wanted to spend Christmas with Phil. Phil couldn’t wait to have all the people who mattered most to him gathered in one room.

A week later, it was time for Christmas dinner. They’d be staying over at the Lester household and open presents but Phil had promised Dan that he could ditch the following lunch where they invited extended family and several family friends over too. Phil realised that dealing with four new people would be plenty for Dan.

On the walk through town, Phil felt like he was vibrating out of his own skin. Dan was keeping a close eye on him, as the brunet often did.

“You’re practically glowing, Phil,” Dan said.

“What?” Phil asked, suddenly worried that his skin had started glowing like when he was younger. A quick inspection of his arms confirmed that that wasn’t the case. But his frantic movements made it clear where his mind had gone and it made Dan burst out laughing.

Dan’s laugh was one of the most beautiful sounds that Phil had ever heard. Dan laughed with his whole body and happiness radiated off him when he laughed unabashedly.

“Not literally, Phil,” Dan said when he came out of his laughter. Phil knew he was probably beaming at Dan, clearly showing his affection, but he didn’t care one bit when Dan laughed like that.

“Well, excuse me from being worried,” Phil said and poked his elbow into Dan’s ribs.

Dan grinned back at Phil, feeling more at ease now, with the dreaded dinner momentarily forgotten.

“You’ll be fine, Dan,” Phil said and suddenly pulled to a stop before a medium sized house near the outskirts of town. Dan hadn’t realised that they had been so close.

It was odd to properly see the home where Phil had grown up. Phil had pointed it out before but Dan had never wanted to go near it out of fear that one of Phil’s parents would come out upon seeing Phil.

It was all too easy to imagine the image of the glowing ginger-haired boy climbing down the stairs and running out to explore the world. A smile caught on Dan’s face without permission. That little glowing boy would run towards the forest and there he’d met the most feared predator in existence and tame it with just a touch of his chubby fingers.

“You ready to go in?” Phil asked and placed a hand on Dan’s back.

These people raised Phil. Surely; they would be some of the most wonderful people in existence too.

Phil opened the door without knocking because why would Phil do that when he clearly thought he owned it as much as his parents did? He urged Dan on, his hand pressing firmly into Dan’s back, coaxing him inside. There was a slight pull and discomfort, more so than when he’d walked into their flat for the first time. However, Phil’s touch seemed to hum stronger and soon the discomfort was pushed aside by waves of comfort.

Upon realising that they had guests, Phil’s parents politely came into the hallway to greet them; exchanging brief hugs with their son and shaking Dan’s hand.

“Come on inside, dinner will be ready soon,” Mrs Lester said and ushered them towards the living room, where they ran into Phil’s older brother Martyn, who made it much more awkward than Phil’s parents had done.

“So this is the Dan we’ve heard so much about,” Martyn said, as he shook Dan’s hand. Dan wanted to sink into a hole immediately, preferably a bottomless pit.

“I don’t talk about him that much,” Phil argued but if Dan wasn’t mistaken a rosy colour was beginning to settle in his cheeks.

“Right,” Martyn replied and shot Phil a look that told him that he clearly didn’t believe that. “Either way, it’s nice to finally meet Phil’s roommate. As someone who lived with him for a long time, I commend that you’re held out this long.”

“I’m not that bad!” Phil exclaimed and flushed more.

Dan found it precious and suddenly got the urge to poke Phil’s cheeks to see if they were turning warmer as well. Phil had developed a tendency to always poke Dan’s dimple, so he probably wouldn’t mind. However, Dan realised that it would probably send a rather weird signal to Phil’s family. They couldn’t very well explain their closeness by telling that Phil’s magical touch calmed the soul-stealing predator that Dan had been.

“Carly!” Phil greeted and quickly crossed the room to embrace her. He didn’t get to see much of her anymore after having grown up but he still loved her a lot and thought of her kind of like an older sister or an aunt.

“Phil, don’t be rude,” Carly said as she pulled out of the hug. “Introduce me to your friend.”

“Oh, right, sorry. Carly, this is Dan, my roommate and Dan, this is Carly an old family friend,” Phil said.

“Pleasure,” Dan said and extended his hand for a shake but he was surprised when the small woman pulled him stumbling forward until he was pulled into a hug.

This woman was clearly strong. Dan could feel the _glow_ within her, radiating through her skin. She was nowhere near as powerful as Phil, but then again no one was. They’d encountered a legend about a _light_ , someone who was born able to wield immense magic of which the like would only exist around every century. None of them had said anything about it but both secretly knew that it might be Phil.

Still, Carly’s power felt intimidating this close, though it thankfully didn’t make Dan want to rage out and consume her soul. It just felt unnerving, or maybe it was the way her wise eyes seemed to look right through him.

They fell into small talk, catching up, and Phil made a point to drag Dan into the conversation, no matter how reluctant the brunet was. By some miracle, neither Martyn nor Carly directed any invasive questions in Dan’s direction. Before they knew it, Mrs Lester was calling to meal.

However, Martyn grabbed hold of Phil’s arm and dragged him back into his old childhood bedroom. He managed to send a reassuring glance Dan’s way, even if he hated leaving Dan alone out there. Whatever Martyn wanted to discuss in private had to be important.

“What is it?” Phil hissed as soon as the door closed. Dan might actually be able to listen in, if he wanted to, but Phil knew that Dan respected his privacy enough not to do that.

“Is Dan really just your roommate, Phil? Or is he something more?”

How did he even reply to that? Of course, Dan was something more. He was Dan. He was Phil’s best friend and the only one who seemed to really understand him. He had given Phil a new purpose in life and he made him laugh and feel warm all of the time. But that wasn’t what Martyn was asking for.

“We’re friends. Best friends, Martyn,” Phil insisted because explaining everything that he and Dan were and everything they could possibly be in the future seemed an impossible task.

Martyn was glancing at him with scepticism.

“You’ve been here less than an hour, Phil, and over ten times you’ve reached out to pat his arm. You both refuse to move more than a few feet apart and you seem to communicate with glances alone. You gravitate towards each other.”

“You’ve been counting how many times I’ve touched Dan?” Phil exclaimed, somewhat horrified. He might have played it up extra to give himself a moment to think. Did they really touch that often? Maybe they did. But they actually had a reason.

It grounded Dan and pushed the soul snatcher aside but Phil couldn’t deny that the constant touching that an effect on him as well. He felt grounded and safe with Dan by his side and reaching out to confirm that Dan was indeed there always calmed him too.

   “Yes, my brother brings home this alleged best friends that we’ve never met before and I…”

“I’ll stop you right there, Martyn. Dan and I are best friends. And he’s here because he doesn’t have a family, okay? Just like Carly doesn’t have a family. I thought we accepted people like that here and gave them a place to spend at the holidays.”

That efficiently shut Martyn up. Phil loved his brother dearly but he was so nosy sometimes and it made Phil anxious when that curiosity was turned towards Dan who had so much to hide.

To Martyn’s credit, he seemed to go out of his way to be friendly towards Dan after his and Phil’s little chat.

Dan had hated being left alone while the two brothers vanished into a bedroom but he hadn’t had much choice. He briefly deliberated to listen in, because Martyn had looked so serious dragging Phil away but ultimately decided against it. He wouldn’t betray Phil’s trust like that and Dan knew that if he asked Phil later, he would tell him what it had been about.

Luckily, they came back pretty quickly and food took momentary priority over conversation. There were a few polite questions directed at Dan, asking him about what he was doing at the moment and such but that was fine because they had rehearsed a backstory beforehand.

They decided not to change the ridiculous story of how they met, just in case Martyn should run into Phil’s friends and Dan should come up as a topic of conversation. Thankfully, the Lesters and Carly didn’t comment on the odd story.

“I’m so glad Phil has someone to share the flat with. I was worried about him living alone,” Phil’s mother said and shot a fond glance in Dan’s direction.

“I’m a fully capable adult, you know,” Phil grumbled and Dan refrained from commenting how Phil had nearly burnt down the flat when he’d tried to use the fireplace for the first time. If it hadn’t been for Phil’s ability to conjure up water on demand, they might have been living on the street.

“Oh, I know sweetie but four eyes are always better than two,” Mrs Lester insisted.

They had gone through starters and mains and just settled with the dessert. Dan had been going for small portions, his stomach more used to regular food but still nowhere near how much a normal person would eat. No one had commented on that either and Dan thanked the social practices in place that would probably deem that rude.

“If I did something, I’m sure my light would help me out,” Phil said before shoving a forkful of cake into his mouth.

Dan caught the flinch of all the other four people at the table and tensed himself. Phil seemed blissfully unaware just eating his cake. Dan needed to say something to keep conversation flowing. Clearly, Phil’s family was worried he’d just outed himself as a magic wielding human, despite Phil refusing to call his magic _glow_ like normal people. They clearly hadn’t expected Dan to know about Phil’s secret.

To be fair, if Phil had confessed to someone he’d only know for around half a year, he would have been mental. Dan was oddly glad that they didn’t have any secrets between them. Even their most private things were laid bare for each other.

“Hey Phil,” Dan said. “Remember the time you got locked out of the flat and had to wait until I let you back in?”

“That’s because you’re a little shit, Dan,” Phil said.

“Language,” Mr Lester said but he didn’t sound pissed off. He sounded surprised. “You never swear.”

Phil didn’t really swear before he got close to Dan. Dan swore freely and unfortunately it was one of the habits that Phil had picked up on. He only did it around Dan though. He just brought something up in him, where he didn’t worry about anything, even his manners.

“Sorry,” Phil said. “But do you remember how much Martyn swore last time his team lost?”

“That’s different,” Martyn begun to argue and the slip-up from Phil wasn’t spoken about. Dan still had no doubt that Phil would hear from it later. He didn’t even seem to have realised his mistake.

Phil had thought dinner had gone brilliantly. There had been minimal questions prying into Dan and their relationship and he was a happy camper. They moved on to board games afterwards and even that went swimmingly. Dan was such a sore loser when they played just the two of them but here he clearly held back a lot and for some reason Phil thought it was so adorable that he wanted to make a good impression on Phil’s parents.

There had been a slight tension in the air, Phil noted by using his light, and wondered if Dan was able to tell as well. Dan always looked slightly uncomfortable when he was outside of their flat or around other people.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Dan said after they finished the game they’d been playing. “Phil, where’s the bathroom?”

Phil pointed him in the right direction and Dan smiled and nodded before going on his way. If Phil had expected the ambush from his family, he might have hesitated to send Dan on his way.

“Does Dan know about you, Phil?” his mother asked and she looked deeply concerned. “You know it’s not safe…”

“It’s stupid to have told him, boy. He could use that information to hurt you. You’ll be shunned if people know,” his father chimed in.

“It’s really not something you should reveal to people that aren’t family,” Martyn argued.

All the voices of his family members overlapped and overwhelmed him. He must have said something or mentioned his light for all of them to react like that. Under other circumstances, he’d have been glad for their overprotectiveness. He knew that he’d needed when he was younger.

He still hadn’t talked to his parents about how Dan had told him about the glowing skin that they had told him was just a childhood imagination thing as he grew up. He knew that he owed his parents and Carly a lot. If he’s been glowing like Dan described, he would in all likelihood have been killed. Last year, a boy at school at been revealed to have light. Phil only learned about it after the fact, where he’d been forced out of the town. So normally, he’d have been thankful for his family springing to his defence.

But not this time. Not when it was Dan.

“Guys, relax, it’s fine. Dan won’t tell anyone. I promise,” Phil said and he didn’t have any trouble giving his word. Dan would never ever do that.

“You mean you actually told him?” his father asked and sounded outraged.

“Wait, didn’t you just say…” Phil tried to ask but he got interrupted again.

“Oh, dear, Phil you shouldn’t have. I know you’re friends and live together but Martyn is right, only family should know that about you.”

Phil wanted desperately to tell them that Dan was well on his way to becoming Phil’s family, if he wasn’t already. They had slotted into each other’s lives and neither had any plan of ever separating.

Carly had been suspiciously quiet during the whole ordeal and only spoke up to say that Dan would be back in a second.

“I hope that you’re right about him, Philip,” his father added in a hushed voice.

As Dan walked back into the living room, he sensed that the air had changed. It was more hostile now but he knew that had been bound to happen. He hadn’t actually needed to use the toilet but he wanted to give Phil a moment with his family before the evening was over. He knew they’d probably questioned him.

Dan could only hope that Phil had defended him. He still braced to be confronted but he was surprised as they went for another round of the board game. Phil did put a hand reassuringly on his shoulder, letting the touch linger longer than usually, so that was all that Dan needed.

They eventually retired for the night, Phil and Martyn going to their old rooms, Carly took the couch, as she usually did, and Dan settled on a mattress on Phil’s floor. They both seemed too aware of the other presences around them and didn’t exchange many words before they could sense that everyone had gone to sleep.

“They know you know about my light,” Phil whispered. “But you knew that already, didn’t you?”

“You mentioned your light during dinner. I’m surprised you didn’t catch onto the tension. At least, it’s better than them knowing about me,” Dan said and shifted in his makeshift bed.

“I guess. I told them not to worry, you know. I know they find it hard to believe but obviously, you’d never say anything.”

“Maybe if I wasn’t… like I am, then I might have if you told me after knowing me for such a relatively short time,” Dan proposed.

“No, you wouldn’t,” Phil said confidently. “I know you, Dan. Not the part we don’t want to speak about here but the real you. You care so deeply for everything. That’s why you’re so pained sometimes but it also makes you fiercely loyal. You would never hurt me but you’d never let anyone hurt me either.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“And I feel the same about you, Dan. The two of us look out for each other. Oh, and thank you for tonight. Even with the family ambush, it’s been a great night. And you get to leave after presents, you know. It’ll be great,” Phil said but his voice was getting gradually quieter and quieter and his heartbeat was slowing down.

“’Night, Phil,” Dan said and just got a mumbled string of nonsense words as a reply.

He tried to relax and sleep but he didn’t need much sleep and it was surprisingly difficult to sleep in a new place. His skin was tingly a bit uncomfortably and he shuffled as close to Phil as he could without rolling off the mattress. He twisted and turned for hours.

Eventually, he gave up and got out of his floor bed. He lingered by Phil’s side, considering waking him but finding himself unable to do so. He’d never seen Phil sleep before and he did feel slightly like a creeper watching him but he still couldn’t pull away.

Concluding that Phil probably wouldn’t mind, Dan let his fingertips gently rest on the back of Phil’s hand. The slight burning sensation went away instantly and Dan let out a breath of relief.

“Dan?” a voice called and Dan almost screamed in surprise but quickly clamped a hand over his mouth as he instantly recognised the energy coming off the only other magic wielding human in the house.

“Carly?” Dan whisper asked.

She made a beaconing motion and Dan hesitantly followed. He was embarrassed that he’d essentially been caught creeping on Phil but why was she even awake during the middle of the night?

She walked to the kitchen, the furthest spot from the bedrooms, and turned around to face him. For a moment, Dan was terrified that she’d be able to tell that he had been a soul snatcher and she would smite him. Alright, smiting was maybe a little unrealistic.

Dan wasn’t even sure if magic wielded could kill him but he wasn’t keen to find out.

“Why did he tell you that he has _glow_?” she asked calmly.

“Hmm…” he hesitated.

How did he tell her without telling her anything compromising? Telling Phil’s protective whatever-she-was that he’d tried to consume Phil’s soul when he first met him and that he knew without Phil telling him because Phil was the perfect meal for the monster inside of him likely wouldn’t go over well. But he didn’t know how much Phil had told them either, so he couldn’t just make up a specific time in fear of being caught in a lie. He should have asked Phil about it before he fell asleep.

“It doesn’t matter,” Dan said instead. “I would never tell anyone about Phil. He trusts me not to and I won’t. I have no wish for him to get shunned or hurt. Trust me that’s the last thing I want.”

“You’re evading but telling the truth,” Carly said ominously and Dan feared she might actually be able to tell by using her _glow_. “Are you magical too?”

“No one is as magical as Phil,” Dan answered.

“Evading again. It’s an interesting answering technique you’ve got. And you look like you’re scared of me. Is there something about me that sets you on edge?”

Dan heard the unvoiced real question. Carly wanted to know if he knew about her. Telling her that yes, he was aware she possessed a powerful amount of _glow_ would only insinuate that Phil had told him, which was no good, or he’d been able to tell by using his own senses, which wouldn’t do either.

“Magic is a fickle thing but I don’t believe that those who can touch it should be hunted. They are people just the same. Phil is the best person I know. That’s all I need to know,” Dan said.

Carly looked frustrated now, probably because he refused to answer anything outright.

“You are something, aren’t you, Dan? Not one with _glow_ but someone with a perspective eye. You have a vibe about you, though you seem like a perfectly ordinary human. And Phil is a good judge of character. I only hope you don’t betray his trust.”

“I can tell you one thing for sure, Carly. I would never ever in my life betray Philip Michael Lester.”

She nodded, seemingly satisfied, as she walked back into the living room and got settle on the sofa. Dan slowly made it back to Phil’s old room and briefly touched his hand again before settling down in the floor bed and forcefully shutting his eyes.

Dan was sleeping when Phil woke up. Phil was amazed for a second because Dan slept so little. He looked so young and innocent with his features so relaxed. More on instinct than anything else, Phil leaned down to rest his hand over Dan’s for a moment before walking into the kitchen. He didn’t even think twice about it.

He’d always been an early riser and he was on his way to wake his brother, just like they’d done when they were younger, when he heard Carly stir awake. She was the lightest sleeper he’d ever known so he wasn’t so surprised.

He was surprised that she called him over and told him that she’d talked to Dan last night.

“What do you mean? What did you talk about?” Phil asked, and he knew that he did a poor job of hiding his nerves.

“We talked about you mostly. He was very cagey in his answers but I got enough out of him. He was rather insistent that he’d never hurt you or use the fact that you have _glow_ against you, like I sadly know so many others might.”

“I already told you that,” Phil complained and wanted to make it back to his room to apologise to Dan. It was Phil’s fault that Dan had been interrogated, likely in the middle of the night.

“I know but I needed to hear it from him. He’s a special one, isn’t he? There’s something about him I can’t quite put my finger on. But… I’m willing to shove down my suspicions because I can see how much he matters to you.”

Phil laughed awkwardly. “What do you mean? Of course, I care about him. We’re friends. Best friends.”

“I know and that’s wonderful. I know you struggled to connect with people your age, Phil. You’ve always been popular but you’ve longed for that deep mutual understanding that I can see you have with Dan. I get that it can only be there if you don’t have secrets. And I know Dan must have one too, from the way you acted yesterday, but I won’t pry. People are allowed their secrets but I’m happy you found someone to trust yours with.”

Phil wasn’t sure when his eyes had begun to water but it mattered so much that Dan essentially got Carly’s stamp of approval. Carly had been the one they had been the most worried about, especially because of her light. Phil was able to sense that Dan wasn’t quite normal and they had been so worried that Carly might be able to tell too, despite every magic wielding human that they’d encountered around town hadn’t batted an eyelash.

“I’m happy too, Carly,” Phil said and blinked away the tears. Why was he even welling up to begin with?

“That’s the thing about family, Phil. It’s blood but it’s also the people we chose to make family. We are blessed when we encounter someone who joins our family.”

“Yeah,” Phil said and smiled so wide that his cheeks hurt.

Dan was family. He’d become it gradually with every late night chat, every joyful banter, every playful shove, every hesitant confession, every gently touch and every moment together.

When Phil walked back towards the bedrooms, he walked past Martyn’s and went straight to his own. Dan was still sleeping on the floor but Phil flopped himself down next to Dan for a vertical hug.

Dan stirred awake instantly as something heavy settled on him, his predator instincts flaring up for a moment before he forced them down upon realising that it was only Phil. Phil effectively giving him a cuddle but still just Phil.

“Phil?” Dan asked, his voice gravelly.

“Sorry, I just missed you,” Phil said.

Dan knew that couldn’t be the whole reason but he wrapped his arms around Phil and let them stay there for a moment. Phil would always tell him everything when he was ready. They broke the hug reluctantly and Dan sat up properly.

“Ready for more time with my demanding family?” Phil asked.

“I’m dealing with one demanding Lester on the regular, so what’s a few more?” Dan jokes.

“Rude!” Phil said and shoved a now giggling Dan backward until he fell on his back. “I’m delightful.”

“Yeah, you are,” Dan agreed without a beat of hesitation but he quickly got to his feet before Phil had a chance to respond.

“Ready for family time?” Dan asked and smiled with an inviting grin.

“Always,” Phil said and swung his arms around Dan and dragged him out of his bedroom.

Dan revelled in the obvious happiness radiating off Phil. He was happy he’d come to see Phil’s family after all because it clearly made the boy so happy.

As long as the two of them were with each other, they were always having family time anyway. Dan was his chosen family and he got along with his existing family. Phil couldn’t be more thrilled at the realisation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was so much fun to write. Look at the precious boys and the overprotective family members. It was kind of fun putting a meet the family at Christmas trope in here. I hope you liked it!


	7. The Partners Who Had To Decide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan didn't mean to teleport them away from the exposed vein of magic, the demanding coven or the curious townspeople, but he's grateful for the accident. Phil is understandably freaking out after learning that he is their century's light but Dan will do everything in his power to reassure him that things will be okay.
> 
> *Takes place immediately after Part 3: The Reformed Soul Snatcher & The Prodigal Light*

The word spread like wildfire over the town where Dan and Phil had made their home. A lot of the population had been revealed as magic wielding humans but what everyone cared about more was the fact that a _light_ – something many believed only to be a legend – were alive and well in the body of the awkward boy Phil, who most of them had known since he was little.

Their swift exit from the vein of magic in the forest only granted them a little space of peace because soon enough people were knocking at their door in attempts to talk to Phil. The imperial coven was among them, though Phil couldn’t sense the Merlin anywhere. A lot were the people who’d witness the whole ordeal of turning a soul snatcher back into a human.

Phil didn’t want anyone to disturb him, so he put up a ward that didn’t allow anyone to pass into their whole building, excusing their neighbours. It would have been a bit cruel to lock them out of their home.

Dan was still trying to get used to the fact that he didn’t have the permanent ache within his body anymore. When he hugged Phil, he didn’t have to hear that whisper of a hungry predator voice anymore. He’d gotten excellent at controlling it but it was still liberating to be free of it completely.

“The wards will hold,” Phil said as he walked back from their front door to find Dan sitting cross-legged on the floor while he was making their pillows float around the room. Some believed that magic required spells and words to make sense but Phil knew it could work much more instinctually. They had found old spell books from their magic research but for the most parts, magic was just like an extra limb and manoeuvring it was much like lifting your arm.

Dan was taking to magic like a fish to water and Phil paused to just watch him.

He looked like a kid on Christmas morning, who had just gotten the present he’d been wishing for all year. Phil still didn’t quite understand how magic had rejected Dan when he’d been younger. In Phil’s eyes, Dan should have been born with the ability to wield magic, especially when he was looking at him now.

Secretly, he couldn’t help but be a little happy that things had turned out the way they had. If things hadn’t, then age difference and space between them might have meant that they would never have met. And Phil didn’t like that notion one bit.

Dan had been so focused on the fact that he could make their pillows float that he hadn’t heard Phil or noticed him lingering in the doorway. It felt natural and easy as if he was making his legs move to walk or run. Sure there was a bit of wobbling and awkwardness but it felt oddly like when he was first learning to walk. Like it was something he had been supposed to be able to do all along.

When he did finally see the shadow of Phil, he startled and cursed as his concentration broke and the pillows fell around him.

“You look positively _glowing_ , Dan,” Phil said and smiled the smile where his tongue poked out slightly, which Dan adored so much.

“I’m pretty sure you’re the one who’s _glowing_ , Mr _Light_ ,” Dan countered and gestured to Phil.

Phil’s skin was still shimmering, brightly and proudly announcing what he was. Phil stared at his bare arms as if he’d forgotten that they did that, even if they had been glowing for hours now. It seemed impossible that this was what he’d looked like before he met Dan.

“Do you remember much from when we met the very first time?” Phil asked and sat down on the floor next to Dan.

Dan let his eyes track over Phil’s body and reached over to fit their hands together. He didn’t need it to remain calm anymore but he’d gotten used to the warm and comfortable feel of Phil touching him, even when he hadn’t been glowing and buzzing like now.

“You mean do I remember the moment that brought my consciousness back after having been ripped of it? The single moment in my entire life that changed the course of it? No, Phil I recall absolutely nothing about that.”

Phil rolled his eyes and squeezed Dan’s hand as hard as he could. To Dan, it just felt like Phil was pushing more love into their touch because Phil’s light knew the touch was exchanged in fondness.

“You’re annoying,” Phil said.

“I’m happy,” Dan replied. “But no, seriously, of course, I remember. I’m the one who had to tell you about it because your child brain repressed the memory.”

“I know, but in my defence I did apparently talk about you, remember? Martyn told me recently that it was odd I found a roommate named Dan, which was the same name I had given my “imaginary friend” when I was a child. But you can’t really blame my parents for not believing me when I told them that I had become friends with a soul snatcher.”

“Why are you asking about this now, Phil?” Dan asked, trying to get Phil back on track.

“I just can’t imagine a time when my skin normally looked like this, you know? Like I’m glowing like a firefly or something. It looks weird,” Phil said and tensed his shoulders.

“Listen to me, Phil. It does not look weird. You know what I remember from the first time that I saw you when you were just a glowing child?”

“What?” Phil asked softly and pulled Dan’s hand with him to rest both of their hands against his chest.

Dan’s heart might have done a little flip at that action.

“I was confused but I remember very clearly that I just found you so beautiful and innocent. You felt pure in a way I have never sensed before. I felt tainted next to you, broken and damaged but you, this wonderful child, insisted on reaching out to reassure me. I knew I had to protect you, as best I could. It sounds so horribly cliché but… I imagined you going on to do great things. If my sacrifice brought even that a tiny step closer to happening, then I had done something good with my life.”

“You had so much more to do in life, Dan,” Phil argued.

“At the time, I thought it would lose my morals, my personality, my soul in just another moment, Phil. I never did anything productive with my life before becoming a soul snatcher. I thought that was my one chance to do something that would matter. I could never have imagined that things would turn out like this,” Dan said and now he pulled their still intertwined fingers towards his chest, mimicking the gesture Phil had made just minutes before.

“I’m not sure if I can do it, Dan…” Phil said and hesitated. Dan looked at him, patiently waiting for him to continue. “I-I’m scared. I knew we both sort of figured I might be this _light_ character but thinking and knowing are different things. What if I’m not cut out for it? With the title comes all these responsibilities and I’m not sure if I can carry them. I never asked for my light.”

Phil’s voice had gone quieter and quieter and Dan had to strain to pick up Phil’s last sentence. Hearing Phil sound so insecure and scared made Dan’s chest ache in recognition. He wasn’t sure how he’d have felt if he found out people had all of these things that they expected of him. Honestly, he’d probably have run away from it all.

But he knew that Phil was made from different stuff, metaphorically and physically. Still, Dan knew how to spot an internal crisis coming on better than anyone else. Phil needed quiet and time, which was why he’d warded himself and Dan into their home and even muffled the sound undoubtedly coming from the people camping out on their front step.

Phil wasn’t quite ready to face the music and at this moment he felt as if he might never be. Dan was pretty sure Phil would rise to the occasion but he also knew that right now Phil needed to be left alone to mull over the decision.

“You never asked for you light, Phil. I know that. But I also know how much you love it and trust its opinion and how you generally love magic. So you got a big pinch more than normal magic wielding humans, whoop dido. Don’t mind that. And don’t mind the coven or the townspeople or even your family right now. We’ll address all of that in good time. For now, let’s just stay here and be happy that I didn’t die.”

A laugh bubbled up from within Phil and it sounded like it could borderline a sob.

“I am very happy that you didn’t die, Dan,” Phil said and pulled their hands towards him and now took Dan’s free hand with his other. They were sat opposite each other holding both hands between them. Phil felt stronger like this and more in control. He always felt better when he had Dan around to centre him.

“Me too, Phil. But honestly, people can wait. Right now, this is about the two of us. I want you to teach me all the magic you can think of and we might try and figure out a way to mask your glow again, just so you don’t go around glowing all the time.”

“I thought you liked my glowing skin,” Phil said teasingly.

“I do but you’d attract moths if we went on a night-time walk and you know that would make me flee in the opposite direction no matter how much I loved you.”

Dan didn’t catch his little slip of the L word and neither did Phil particularly register it. His light had always told him how Dan felt about him. He was just so happy that Dan was reassuring him and giving him a task to focus on rather than if he wanted to accept all the responsibilities that came along with being this century’s _light_.

“So gravitation first?” Dan asked. “Cause making a drink float into my hand without getting up would be pretty cool.”

Phil shook his head but smiled brightly. He reluctantly unlinked their hands and showed Dan the different hand movements and feelings he used to control gravity. The next week carried on like that. They kept practicing different kinds of magic and Dan learned more than he thought possible. They also figured out how to mask Phil’s glowing skin as Dan instinctively seemed to be great a guarding magic.

The two of them hid away in their home, practicing magic and getting used to each other now that Dan’s hesitation and apprehension had changed. Phil felt like the magic had finally unlocked the bight and shining _glow_ he had always known that Dan possessed. Dan had never looked quite right when he had had black eyes and an emotionless face. It was a stark contrast to the Dan now running around in their shared home in just an oversized hoodie and his underwear while making a glass of water follow him around.

Dan was smiling all the time, so much that he even felt as if his face might get stuck that way. His cheeks burned sometimes and his stomach ached from all the times Phil made him laugh. Dan felt carefree and just liberated for the first time since he could remember. It felt like when he was a child before the horrible jealousy and insecurities had settled in his teenage years and then he’d lost his soul and become something vile.

They both wanted to stay inside of their little bubble of happiness for as long as possible. Phil kept the wards up easily and he had soundproofed their space entirely as well, so as long as they didn’t gaze out the window, they wouldn’t be able to see all the people gathered outside their home.

The townspeople had been shook by the sheer amount of magic wielding humans in their midst, so thankfully no one had turned a hateful eye towards the many that had been exposed by the imperial coven. The coven stayed in town. They even tried to break through Phil’s wards to get to talk to him but they didn’t stand a chance against Phil’s magic. When he wanted to keep people out, he could do so effortlessly. He knew he was only delaying the inevitable but it felt like bliss or a honeymoon period, he supposed. That second thought made his mind drift to something else entirely.

Teaching Dan to use his new _glow_ had brought them even closer. It had broken down the last of Dan’s defences, which he had gotten expertly at putting up. As a consequence, the lines between platonic and romantic interactions blurred between them. It felt natural, however, so none of them questioned it.

The boys didn’t know it at the time but with every little interaction and affection, they were making their souls connect bit by bit. It was such a gradual and natural process but they were in the beginning of making a bond that would never be able to truly break. They would only learn that later.

After a week in solitude, Dan finally, albeit very reluctantly, decided to burst Phil’s bubble. He felt cruel but he knew it was time. Phil had been lingering by the windows all day, clearly debating whether or not to pull back the curtains. He had mentioned that his family had come by as well, which he could tell by his light warning him, but letting them in would have meant opening the doors and facing the world. It felt impossibly scary.

They were on Phil’s bed, caught in a somewhat accidental cuddle. Phil had needed the comfort and beaconed Dan to his room and wrapped his arms around him and not let go. Dan sunk into the touch just like he’d done when he needed it to ground him and keep him sane. Though he didn’t physically need it anymore, he couldn’t lie that he still derived so much comfort from it. It made him feel special. It made him feel loved.

“Phil,” Dan whispered carefully and tightened his arms around Phil just a little more.

Phil groaned miserably and pressed his face into Dan’s shoulder. He knew what Dan was about to say; just by the way the former soul snatcher spoke his name. Phil had wanted not to dwell too much on his _light_ status but his mind had been occupied by it against his wishes.

He didn’t feel like he was strong enough to be all that _lights_ were supposed to be. He was just Phil from a small town. He wasn’t some all-powerful source of magic. Or at least he didn’t feel like it.

“You know you’ll have to go outside eventually,” Dan chuckled and his hand went to the back of Phil’s neck where he stroked the short hairs gently.

“And that’s coming from you, cave dweller. You’d never go outside unless I made you,” Phil countered.

“Maybe, but you love the people of this town. You love the fresh air and the plants. You don’t do well with being cooped up in here. I know things are different, Phil. They are beyond scary. I know you didn’t ask for this. I know people will look at you differently. But if it makes you feel any better, I feel really scared too.”

The way Dan’s voice dropped slightly, made Phil lift his head to meet Dan’s brown eyes. He had been so caught up with the internal debate about his _light_ status that he’d forgotten about Dan. It made him feel horrible to have been so self-centred.

“You’re worried what people will think of you because you were a soul snatcher,” Phil said and Dan’s mouth went into a tight line. “Dan, don’t worry. I know you’re still haunted from the actions your body did when you weren’t in control but it’s in the past. As I said before, that wasn’t you. I will defend you ‘til the ends of the Earth if that’s what it takes. You are good. And your life should not forever be marked by one foolish mistake and consequences you couldn’t possibly have foreseen.”

Dan’s smile settled gradually into place as Phil spoke.

“Well, as long as I have Phil Lester – the great light – looking after me, I couldn’t ask for much more,” Dan said and noticed how Phil’s voice fell at the reminder of his changed status. “Phil, you are going to do great things. I always knew that. I knew it from the moment your child hand touched my cheek and brought me back to the surface.”

“But what if it’s just the _light_ thing? What if that’s not me?” Phil asked with a desperate edge to his voice.

“It’s not. Your light is you, Phil. Just like you’ve taught me about my _glow_. It’s an extension of you, much like your arm. It is a part of you and it’s powerful, yes, but it’s a hundred per cent Phil as well. I didn’t think the child I met would do great things because of the strong hum or the glowing skin. In fact, I worried those would be your demise. Your soul was bared to me for the briefest flicker of a moment and that’s why I knew you’d be great, Phil. You have goodness in you that can’t be explained or measured. You’re like a ray of sunshine. Everything you touch will glow a little brighter, not because of your light, but because of your good heart and pure intentions. Don’t you ever doubt yourself, Phil. You are so special. As a _light_ or without magic at all, you would be special. Trust me on that. As long as I’m by your side, I won’t ever let you worry about your worth.”

Dan finally stopped talking and he felt as if he’d spoken slightly out of term. He always tended to rant whenever he was passionate about something and there weren’t really anything that could match his passion for Phil Lester. He felt warm all over, probably in part because Phil’s body was still pressed up against him and Dan could feel Phil’s magic warmth intensify and radiate happiness.

“You’re right. I worry I won’t be able to live up to the responsibilities I’ve been given but… Dan, you make me believe that I could do it. If you are with me, I think I could do it. It would be too scary to walk out there and face it all on my own but if you came along then I think I would be fine,” Phil said and sounded almost timid in his confession.

Dan didn’t know how to respond. He’d never in his wildest dreams imagined that someone like Phil would ever want to get to know him, let alone live with him. And now the most wonderful human he’d ever met wanted him, Dan Howell, by his side in this magical adventure he was bound to start. But Phil was in his arms and he looked to earnestly and Dan knew Phil would never lie to him.

“So what? The two of us set out the change the world? Convincing people that magic isn’t evil? Educating people on how soul snatchers are made? Warding off exposed veins of magic so no one ever has to suffer the fate I did?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Phil said and looked up at Dan, as he squeezed Dan’s entire body as hard as he could.

Dan could feel the love, happiness and excitement from Phil’s touch. He could also feel the calm certainty that balanced out the prancing emotions. Dan sighed and squeezed Phil back.

Phil could feel the uncertainty and hesitance melt away from Dan. He could also sense the fierce loyalty and unquestionable love that Dan felt towards Phil. Phil took a chance and leaned forward to do something he’d wanted to do for a very long time.

They were about to set out to influence the whole world, which was scary, so Phil had to be brave. Dan didn’t seem even remotely surprised; in fact he seemed all too happy with the development.

At the time, they had no clue how much that one decision to accept what had been thrust upon them would mean for the world. They had both felt tempted to hide away and just exist with each other. It would have been a much easier life.

But it wouldn’t have been as happy. They didn’t owe anyone anything but they wanted to better the world they lived in. They would face struggles and hardships but they wouldn’t have to do it alone. They had been given a wonderful opportunity and it would have been a shame to let it get to waste.

Therefore, they exited their home the following morning and begun their plans of how to change the public’s opinion of magic and those who wielded it. Together, side by side, they were ready to face the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've run out of pre-written pieces so I actually just finished this chapter today! It's slightly odd to be back with the stress of having to finish a piece of writing to post the same day but I still hope you like it. I have time to write in the weekend (hopefully) so I definitely count on being able to keep with the schedule of weekly uploads on Wednesday. There's only three more bonus chapters left!
> 
> Let me know your thoughts on this? It's bordering more on the romantic than the original story but I still like to keep it quite ambiguous to fit with the original but if you want to, you can definitely find a kiss in there, though not explicitly stated.


	8. The Exposed Vein Of Magic That Had To Be Closed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one had ever dared trying to manipulate pure magic in any way, shape or form. Not even previous _lights_ but Dan and Phil had a mission to stop soul snatchers and it was best to do that from the source, no matter how dangerous.

It wasn’t just like the very next day that they marched out to change the world. They had to make plans and figure out how they would even be able to do this. They had several objectives:

\- Making people who didn’t have _glow_ understand that it wasn’t anything to be afraid of

\- Educating people on how soul snatchers were made and how to prevent existing ones from consuming

\- Warding off exposed veins of magic so that no more innocent people would be turned into soul snatchers

But from having the plan and to actually knowing all that they needed to know to execute it was a different matter. They didn’t know how to stop just any soul snatchers. Phil was pretty sure that his touch wouldn’t necessarily pacify any soul snatcher he came across. He wasn’t sure what it had been about Dan but he knew the fact that their meeting had only gone so well was mostly thanks to luck. Had Dan not been so critically thinking before he turned or still so young, who knew what would have happened?

And because soul snatchers went into a rest and hid away, it would be virtually impossible for them to find every single one.

They didn’t know how to ward of the magic either. While Phil trusted his light to be capable of practically anything he asked of it, he knew that it wouldn’t be accomplished with just intuitive magic. They’d need spells and strong ones. It would have to be something that would persist even after Phil’s death.

If they managed to close off every single one to have it just magically reopen in less than a hundred years, their efforts wouldn’t have mattered that much. They needed something with lasting effect.

So before they could go out and change and educate the world, they needed to educate themselves. That meant a lot of research but thanks to Phil’s new found fame, and Dan’s, of which the word spread like wildfire, they suddenly got more resources.

Magic wielding humans travel from far off places to get a chance to see and help this century’s _light_. Phil was very grateful for any and all help he could get but he knew he had his best helper right beside him.

Not only because Dan had intimate knowledge of soul snatcher habits but because every time Phil was on the verge of getting overwhelmed by the responsibilities Dan would be there to pull him back. Likewise, the guilt over his past actions would sometimes overwhelm Dan and Phil would be right there to steady him.

They worked as a perfect team, from their little town, which became world famous in just a matter of months. There had to stay wards up on their place at all times and they couldn’t walk down the street without being stopped.

Most people wanted to meet the famed pair. A few had ill intentions because they either harboured hatred towards magic wielding humans like Phil or Dan’s past as a soul snatcher. None were successful in their attacks, whether verbal or physical.

Phil had lightning fast reflexes, magically freezing them or taking away their ability to speak. He’d report them to their local police, which soon had to expand their work force.

The whole town turned to embrace magic wielding humans as a result of Phil’s presence. Phil couldn’t have been happier to see that. It was a glimmer of hope when they’d spent months and months researching without making a breakthrough. They’d learnt so much but it wasn’t enough. They had a new theory but it wasn’t sure that it would be enough either.

“Look at that,” Phil cooed and pointed over Dan’s shoulder when they were making their way through town to reach the magic vein in their forest and try to ward it off again. Phil was cloaking them so they could move invisibly through the crowd.

Dan turned to follow Phil’s gaze and his heart melted as well. Two young children were sitting in a sandbox throwing a ball back and forth, while the parents watched on from a nearby bench. However, they weren’t throwing the ball with their hands. It was moving back and forth in the air but it was held up by magic.

“This,” Phil said and tried to blink away the tears threatening to run to his eyes, “this is what we do it for. We do it for a world where that can be the norm without having to worry about hateful people or dangerous predators.”

Phil’s invisibility magic dropped by accident as it sometimes did if he stopped concentrating or got distracted. It was a quieter part of town on the outskirts and the only people that noticed them were the pair of parents and the two children.

Immediately, the two children started smiling brightly as their ball fell to the ground. Phil wiped the corner of his eye and waved to them and he felt the way their glow flickered in response to engaging with his light.

Dan wasn’t as easy to tears but he did smile like an idiot too. With a wave of his hand, he freed two daisies from a patch of flowers and sent them floating towards each of the children. He tugged them behind their ears and their smiles went wider.

Because magic was connected so much to nature or some would say even a force of nature itself, people with _glow_ almost always liked flowers and plants. They had come across an old tradition from the time there was war on magic wielding people. At that time, no one could show their abilities and therefore, they couldn’t find likeminded people but they started wearing flowers behind their ear as a secret sign.

The parents, who were also smiling at them, and the children probably didn’t know that but Dan and Phil did and they shared prolonged eye contact before turning invisible again. They closer they made it to the vein, the more anxious they got. They had a plan they thought might work this time. They’d tried and failed before but they both felt that this attempt could be it.

They had already figured out how to locate dwelling soul snatchers and a spell to seal them in their slumber, which would eventually make them starve. Neither of them liked it much but it was a very peaceful way of ending them. Last month, they had gone looking in their forest and found a dwelling one and Phil had managed to seal it.

Because they were creatures of magic, they were drawn back to nature. So Dan had realised he had actually just gone into the nearest big tree that wasn’t a natural source of magic already. For a while they had wondered if soul snatcher somehow went into a different plane of existence and it was somewhat true in the sense that they didn’t have a physical body while they rested. They tied their life force to trees by using the strength of the soul they consumed.

They were confident that just regular magic wielding humans, as long as they were strong and embraced their _glow_ , would be able to perform the locator and confinement spell that the two of them had worked out.

But the vein of magic had been so much trickier. Locating and confining was a natural part of magic and thus could in theory be learnt by anyone possessing _glow_ if the person in question was skilled enough. However, interfering with a natural source of magic was warned off in every single one of the authentic books they’d been given.

It was the biggest no no in relation to magic.

One didn’t simply interfere with magic in its pure form. That was why people were turned into soul snatchers in the first place. Humans had butted in their noses into business where they weren’t welcome.

It made Dan in particular extremely wary of what they were about to attempt. Their previous attempts had all been a less invasive to heed all of the warnings constantly thrown in their face.

But that hadn’t worked, so they had reluctantly increased their efforts and made them too invasive for Dan’s comfort.

But he knew that Phil was much like an exposed vein of magic. He’d felt it with his own soul consuming hands. If he had pulled, like his body then had screamed to do, he would have been able to go on almost endlessly. A normal drain of a magic wielding human took maybe a minute at most. Draining Phil would undoubtedly have taken hours, maybe even days.

Phil was a force of nature and Dan knew how strong and determined he was to do this. When they reached the vein, they found the usual hoard of tourists and the one policeman, who was tasked with guarding it to make sure no one got close.

Dan’s old masking aura had worn off when he’d changed but he’d found a magical equivalent he could perform instead to keep soul snatchers away. They planned on teaching people that one too. But that meant that people could safely come view a magical vein, one that was now famous after it had changed Dan from soul snatcher back to human, and it drew in crowds.

No one could see them but they needed privacy for this. Phil had to save his powers for the spell, so Dan took over and teleported all of the tourists back to the centre of town with one steadying breath. It took it out of him to transport hordes of people but he gladly did it to better Phil’s chances. He’d taken to magic quickly and constantly being in Phil’s presence only amplified his powers. He put up wards far out to make sure the tourists didn’t just come running back.

Phil dropped the invisibility.

“I’m not even surprised by disappearing tourists anymore, should I be concerned?” the policeman asked and then tipped his head. “Evening, Mr Lester and Dan.”

They both nodded politely and the policeman made himself scarce after a wish of good luck.

“At some point, we’ll have to tell people your full name,” Phil muttered under his breath.

“No,” Dan said stubbornly as he always did.

Dan didn’t want his family to know that he was alive or what he’d been turned into. Phil was sympathetic but he still wished that Dan would change his mind. Phil would have sought out his family by now if he’d been in Dan’s stead, but he wasn’t and it was Dan’s decision and Phil chose not to push.

“You think this one will work?” Dan asked as they walked up to the glowing vein. He’d stopped being fearful of going near it after a little while. Now it called out to him because he too possessed _glow_ but it had taken him a long time to trust magic again. If it hadn’t been for Phil’s love of it, he might never have gotten there.

“If it doesn’t, I’m scared that we’ll run out of ideas,” Phil confessed and rested his hand on the pulse of magic. It was in greeting rather than to try and guard it off yet. Phil always did it.

This idea was crazy. Phil would connect with the pure magic, asking it to spread around its exposed area and close off for anyone without glow but doing so without harming them. When magic created soul snatchers, it had essentially just been pushing away those who shouldn’t have power like that. It was a form of self-defence, even if the consequences were catastrophic for the individual.

“It’s wary of me now,” Phil said with a sad twinge. “I’ve come here often and each time I’ve tried to tame it in some way. It doesn’t want to be hidden or trapped.”

Dan didn’t question how Phil spoke of magic as a living breathing being. In some senses, it was.

“But we’re not trying to trap it, Phil. Remember that. It’s all around. It’s in the centre of the Earth and these spots, these veins is just where it break out to the surface.”

“But it’s also how it communicates with those who it deems worthy to wield just a smidgen of its immense power. I’m a not purely a by-product of it like most people with _glow_ because I have a source inside of me too and using that to try and box it in, has made it hesitant to welcome me.”

Dan put an arm around Phil’s shoulders and squeezed him. He shouldered some of the nerves and Phil felt calmer instantly.

“And that’s why we’re trying to use itself this time. You’re not using your magic, you’re guiding its.”

“Yeah, just guiding pure magic, no big deal,” Phil muttered under his breath.

“Phil,” Dan said and turned them so he could look into the light’s eyes. “No one other than you would ever be capable of coming close to doing something like this. And if it’s too big a task, we’ll figure something out. We still know how to eliminate slumbering soul snatchers. We will still talk our butts off to convince people that magic isn’t bad. We’ll do enough. Even if this doesn’t work.”

Phil was eternally grateful for Dan’s pep talk. It eased his nerves until they were practically non-existent. However, they both knew that stopping the potential creation of soul snatchers was a better option to having to put people down, who got turned into them.

“Hold my hand?” Phil asked. “Let me borrow your strength?”

Dan chuckled as he clasped their hands together. “You don’t need my strength, Phil. You have plenty of your own but I will give you my support.”

Phil was smiling as he held up his free hand over the exposed vein. It felt like they were back to nearly a year ago when everything had changed. Time seemed to have passed in the blink of an eye. But proof that it had happened was standing right next to Phil, in the form of a radiating and human Dan.

“I’m only trying to protect everyone. Even those you don’t find worthy to wield you. They are not inferior because of that. They are still people and deserve your protection just as much. Let us protect them together,” Phil spoke under his breath to give himself confidence.

He was fairly certain magic couldn’t understand human words but he could feel the sentiment of his words ringing in his chest as well and he hoped that the magic would feel that.

He pulled making the shimming glow follow his hand out from the tree root this one was hidden in. It was resisting, not liking to be pulled out into the air. Magic raged against Phil in that moment and his knees buckled. Dan pulled his free arm around Phil, forcing him to stay on his knees rather than fall onto his arse.

Under his breath, Phil began chanting. It wasn’t a spell to make pure magic make a barrier. None such existed because no one had been fool hearted enough to think that they could influence pure magic like that. But it was an old chant for safe passage and calling out to magic to follow and protect you from harm. It was somewhat a long shot but Phil could feel the magic growing less angry as he chanted.

More so than the words or the pull of his hand, Phil tried to emphasise that his heart was in the right place. It was vital that humans able to wield _glow_ would also be able to pass through and that people without wouldn’t be harmed if trying to touch the barrier.

His light cried out in exhaustion and the only reason Phil was even remotely standing on his feet, or knees to be fair, was because of Dan’s persistence in holding him up.

Dan was terrified to see Phil like this, limb in his touch and his eyes gone entirely white with his one hand hanging eerily in the air. His beautiful pupils had vanished as he tried to direct the pure magic hovering under his hand. Phil looked on the verge of dying and Dan spent all his energy trying to make his _glow_ protect Phil for the dangerous feat he was trying to accomplish. It was odd really that Dan had once had completely black eyes and now Phil’s were entirely white, like different ends of the spectrum.

The magic was giving in to Phil very slowly and it followed the movement of his hand as he pulled it free from the exposed vein. It was just a little glob of shimmering substance but the hum of power warned Phil that size didn’t matter one bit. He chanted like his life depended on it and hesitant let go of Dan’s hand.

Dan immediately pulled both arms around Phil; worried the loss of contact would leave the other vulnerable. But Phil seemed in control now and slowly, the white orbs in his eye sockets began to gain a glow, which was growing in strength with every passing moment. The sight of it almost blinded Dan and he had to look away.

Phil moved his hands close together and then stretched them out slowly. The magic reluctantly followed suit and kept expanding. Dan drew in a worried breath as the glowing mass passed through them. He was secretly worried that he might somehow be turned back into the monster he’d once been.

But neither of them felt a thing. It just pulled over them without leaving any feeling on their skin. Phil stretched it to around five metres in diameter and then his exhausted hands fell down into the forest ground, his eyes fell shut and his body sagged against Dan who could almost not hold him.

“Phil?” Dan asked panicked, shaking the person who mattered most to him in the entire world. “Phiiil!”

Phil let out a cough but then his eyes opened and they were their usual beautiful blue.

“You’re crazy,” Dan said and let a hand trace over Phil’s hair as he cradled his face. “Absolutely bonkers.”

They were both shaking, one from exhaustion and one from fear, but neither of them said anything. They just held onto each other until their rapid breathing died down. They lost track of how long they stayed like that. When they finally looked up and away from each other’s faces, they could just about see the faint outline of something glowing formed around them. It was almost invisible to the naked eye but you could just see it.

“You did it,” Dan whispered and looked in awe. They got to their feet, which was barely holding them up at this point and they walked toward the shimmering invisible wall.

Phil held out his hand and it passed right though. The area around his arm, which was caught in the barrier hummed slightly but it was almost unnoticeable. Phil reached out with his light gut feeling and though exhausted and drained, it confirmed what Phil had hoped.

It would let magic wielding humans through but keep out those without it. They had really done it.

“Go on, it’s okay,” Phil urged a very uncertain looking Dan.

Dan didn’t want to touch the glimmering surface. He worried that he’d be turned into a soulless monster but it was Phil and if Phil said it was okay, then he’d push past his instinctive fear.

He moved his hand forward and it went through like nothing. He let out a high-pitched laugh, which was a mix of relief and wonder. They walked through, or more stumbled through arm-in-arm, the barrier and stared back at it.

The bubble around it was only just visible to their eyes. They both tried to move back into the bubble, which they could with the same ease they exited it.

“And you’re sure it won’t hurt kids without _glow_?” Dan had to ask to be sure. He had got an instinctive feeling thanks to his own _glow_ but he still didn’t trust it blindly like Phil did.

“I’m sure of it. It’s created under an old protection chant. But we’ll test it out just to be sure. Later. Right now, I want to sleep for a week,” Phil said and yawned.

Dan grinned and though his nerves were fried and his _glow_ also exhausted, he teleported them home to the safety of their home. Phil almost tripped over his own feet because he hadn’t been expecting it.

“You shouldn’t do that, Dan. I can feel your exhaustion too.”

“I’m fine,” Dan argued but tumbled onto the bed with like a log. Phil fell down right next to him. They were just looking at each other, legs intertwined and hands locked, until sleep took them. They’d worked for months and they’d finally been able to do it.

Now they could begin closing exposed veins of magic other places and talking to people to educate them and teach them to protect themselves against soul snatchers.

They were far from done but this was still a huge victory and they savoured it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I might have had an idea for another additional chapter, bringing this to eleven chapters in total instead of ten. I debated whether forcing the plot line into this chapter but I quite like how it ended here and the new idea deserves its own chapter. But I hope you're excited to have another chapter. So now there's still three left. Clearly I have some trouble letting go of these characters, which have lived in my brain all year but 11 is one of my favourite numbers so I'm probably stopping there. (I'm writing and posting other things as well and juggling too much overwhelms my brain but hey if you didn't know, I'm currently posting [another Phan AU](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11715153/chapters/26385456))
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter and those foolish boys messing with powers beyond their understanding. Thank bless they have each other.


	9. The Unconventional Way To Find New Family Members

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were getting a hang of travelling the world and educating people on magic and soul snatchers but they hadn't had to deal with people who hated anything associated with magic so much they were willing to murder those who had the ability to wield it. Dan and Phil didn't feel ready for that challenge but they had no choice but to step in.

After spending a year figuring out how they would actually do it, they both still felt a bit apprehensive about taking the jump and travelling around the world. It was a big world with a lot of different cultures and languages and very different attitudes towards magic.

Some still believed it sacred and did all to protect those who could wield it. Others had always banished it in their culture, even going as far as to murder those who showed abilities to control it. Dan and Phil was from the same land, though born far from each other, and theirs represented how most lands felt about magic: wary and willing to tip either way.

“I can’t believe my little baby boy is going to travel the whole world,” Phil’ mum said and pulled him into yet another tight hold.

“Mum,” Phil complained. “You know I can literally just teleport back and me by your side again.”

“Yes, Catherine, give the boys some space,” Phil’s father interfered and put a calming hand on his wife’s shoulder.

“But they are going to travel to all these places and if someone tries as much as hurt one hair on either of my boys’ beautiful heads, I’ll…”

Phil’s father laughed and muffled whatever profanity his wife had been about to spill. Phil didn’t swear often and neither did his parents but Dan had discovered the one thing that might make Mrs Lester make an exception: the safety of her children.

And the fact that she’d somehow just included Dan with Phil and Martyn was more touching than he was willing to admit. He was still repressing memories about his own family and how he’d left them.

Even when Phil pressed him, Dan steered the conversation away. He wasn’t ready to handle that and Phil clearly didn’t agree but he did respect Dan’s boundaries, even if he insisted on nudging them.

“We will be fine, mum. I’ll look out for Dan and he’ll look out for me. We’ve prepared for a whole year from location spells to find exposed veins of magic, to finding soul snatchers and entrapping them to warding off pure sources of magic. We’ve got a tonne of research about why magic isn’t evil or something to be feared but still something to be wielded with caution. We’re as ready as we’ll ever be.”

“I know,” his mother said and put her hand to his chin. “My bright light and his support beam. You’ll do great, boys. Don’t forget about us.”

“We would never,” Phil said for the both of them.

The bid their final farewells and Phil amplified his magic to find the nearest exposed vein of magic. Just before he took Dan’s hand.

“Lend me your strength?” Phil asked a mimic of the time when they’d closed the first vein.

“You have my support, Phil. Always.”

With that the Lesters watched the two of them disappear into thin air.

“They will be fine. They are tough boys,” Mr Lester said.

“No, they’re not. They’re soft and vulnerable. Phil might be almighty and Dan might have survived what none have before him but they are still so young. But you are right; they will be fine. They have each other.”

Dan and Phil arrived in their first new town, even if it was similar to theirs in style. Slowly, they set about their work finding someone in charge and requesting to speak with them. They had a positive experience and a responsive crowd who’d all heard of this new mighty _light_. Afterwards, they spend some time teaching the magic wielding humans how to track soul snatchers in slumber and how to trap them in it. Finally, they went to close the nearby vein of magic, caught in the side of a cliff this time.

Closing it wasn’t as hard at first time now that they knew what they were doing. The pure magic also seemed more easily moved, recognising them from before.

After a week, they moved on to a different town.

They continued like that for a couple of years, jumping around within their own borders and the neighbouring lands, which were all relatively friendly or at least not extremely hostile. Slowly, they were able to see the fruit of the labour.

People started to recognise them the moment they showed up and they were thanking them for their service. The information they taught spread not only through themselves but sometimes magic wielding humans would offer to travel around and teach all the places with no exposed veins of magic near where Dan and Phil would be less likely to go.

They did encounter negativity once in a while but they were prepared for it and nine times out of ten, they would make the aggressor see the error of their ways. It mostly stemmed from a place of fear that magic wielding humans would overtake the world if they were allowed to openly exist.

But both Dan and Phil knew that wouldn’t be able to happen. Magic was extremely selective about who it bestowed its power upon. And in their research, they had heard cases of humans who’d lost the ability to wield magic after committing murder.

Magic was something pure and those with real evil intentions would never be allowed to control it.

“We’ve been on the road for over two years now,” Dan muttered one night, their final night in the current town. They travelled home occasionally but travel across great distances took it out of them and they tried to do it as little as possible if they were heading out for closing a vein soon after.

It had never been as hard at that first time but it still took a good bunch of Phil’s strength.

“We’re changing the world, Dan. You’ve seen the ripple effects of our work already.”

“Maybe on this side of the world, Phil. But we’ve only warded off maybe what a fifth of all exposed veins of magic? And the further we get from home, the more complicated it gets. Soon we’ll be going places where we don’t even know the language! What if they don’t speak ours? Or we do something horribly offensive in their culture by mistake?”

“You worry too much,” Phil said and put a calming hand on Dan’s shoulder and gave it a little squeeze to let his light wash over Dan.

“You don’t worry enough,” Dan muttered but rolled over and cuddled up next to Phil. They had been given two single beds but if they cuddled close enough they could stay in one.

“We need to balance each other out,” Phil said and his hand found its way to Dan’s curls. “By the way, I feel the call of a certain vein we’ve been avoiding. Remember?”

“We’re not going there. Not yet, Phil,” Dan said with a cold edge to his voice.

He wasn’t ready to face the place that turned him into a monster and he knew Phil would do his best to make Dan look for his family too and he most certainly wasn’t ready for that. He might never be. He’d been gone for so long. He felt like they’d probably forgotten about him.

“We have to go there at some point,” Phil reasoned.

“Not now. There must be a place more in need of us.”

“It’s near your home, Dan, if something were to happens because you didn’t…”

“It’s not near my home. It’s a two day hike away. They’ll be fine, if they even live there anymore. I can’t go back, Phil,” Dan said but then he lowered his voice and stopped concealing the vulnerability behind annoyance and a harsh tone, “I can’t go back yet. Don’t make me.”

Phil put his arms around Dan and hugged him tight.

“We’ll hold off for a little longer then.”

The next morning, they thanked the town for their hospitality and walked to the edge of town under an invisibility cloak. They still hadn’t quite gotten used to the prying eyes or theories about them that they sometimes picked up on by accident.

People wondered what their relationship really was like. They wanted to know the ins and outs of it but the two of them didn’t want to share that. It was their bond and while they didn’t mind people seeing that they were close, they didn’t feel comfortable giving specifics.

They didn’t know at the time but the speculations would continue long after their deaths when historians would look back at their many accomplishments. However, the focus would be on all they achieved together, regardless of whether “together” meant something else too.

Phil was asking his light to seek out magic like he always did and he was surprised as it kept seeking further out than usual. It passed several places that were closer to them and stopped in a land that Phil didn’t particularly recognise.

“That’s odd,” Phil muttered when he opened his eyes with the location imprinted.

“What?” Dan asked.

“I found one really far away. Further than we’ve ever gone. Other side of the globe kind of far away.”

“How? There must be some closer to us than the other side of the world,” Dan reasoned. They weren’t ready to tackle the other side of the world without finding a way around the language barrier.

Magic could speak across languages in an odd way and they had tried it out with a few people who only spoke other languages. It worked somehow but that meant they would have to actually find someone open-minded and embracive of their magic and willing to translate for them to the leaders.

“We have to go there, Dan,” Phil said and intertwined their hands. It was easier to teleport that way.

“But Phil!”

“Don’t question it. My light tells me there’s something about that place. It has to be where we go next. Trust me?”

Dan shook his head in disapproval. “To the End of the Earth,” he said anyway.

Phil’s light moved them further than they travelled before and they landed on somewhat unsteady feet.

“Woah, let’s wait a day or two with warding off the vein,” Phil muttered and rubbed his temples.

“Lux!” a feminine voice exclaimed.

Dan and Phil turned towards the sound and found a fair young woman with bright curly red hair. She was dressed in some long colourful robes and carrying a clay pot in her hands.

She spoke again but it was several foreign words in one long jumble that didn’t make much sense to any of them.

“She doesn’t have _glow,_ what do we do?” Dan whispered to Phil.

The redhead then smacked herself on the forehead and cleared her throat.

“You are _light_. Phil. I have heard by you. Magic. _Glow_. You,” she suddenly spoke in their tongue although accented by her native language.

“You speak our language?” Phil asked astonished. It supposedly wasn’t common in this side of the world.

The young woman held up her pointer and middle finger. “I speak…”

“Two languages?” Dan asked.

“No,” she said and held up the two fingers again.

“Five?” Phil tried.

“Yes!” she exclaimed and Dan looked to Phil for an explanation.

“Some people count with different gestures than us,” Phil said.

Suddenly, the woman’s happy face paled and she started speaking rapidly in her own tongue again before switching to theirs. “I being stupid. You may come. Fast. Child in danger.”

Her fragmented sentences were slightly hard to follow but neither spoke even a second language well and this woman apparently knew five.

“Excuse, what do you mean about a child? Is a child in danger?” Phil asked and moved toward the woman, almost tripping over his own feet, which had locked up during the teleportation.

“Yes! _Glow_ child. Dead!” she exclaimed and caught hold of Phil’s sleeve and started to drag him forward.

“Phil, I think we’ve gone to one of those places we didn’t plan on tackling for years!” Dan hissed. “A child with _glow_ in deadly danger? And surrounded by people who can’t understand what we’re saying? We’re in over our heads.”

“But we’re here now, Dan,” Phil said and kept following the woman. “We might not feel ready but we have to be.”

“Yes, thank you,” she continued.

“What is your name?” Phil asked. It seemed the woman could understand their language better than she could speak it herself.

“Name’s Cornelia. Nice to meet you, Phil, _Light._ Dan, old dark one.”

Dan tensed at the way she addressed him. She probably meant to imply that she knew he was a former soul snatcher but the way her limited vocabulary made it sound put him on edge.

“Cornelia, why is this child in danger? It is because they wields _glow_?” Phil asked as they kept speed walking after the native.

“Yes. _Glow_ childs get dead. Too powerful. Villagers scared.”

“But you’re not scared, are you?” Dan asked. “You don’t have _glow_ yourself but you’re still not scared of it.”

“ _Glow_ is happy. Happiest child. Not evil like they think,” she said and frowned deeply before starting to jog and the boys followed her reluctantly.

There was the beat of drums and it seemed that had been what had spurred on Cornelia.

It was a ceremony of some sort and the two of them saw a little kid, maybe two or three years old, standing in the middle of the circle, looking scared out of his mind. They didn’t have any clue what the chanting that went along with the drums meant but they would bet that it wasn’t something friendly.

Cornelia looked scared. Phil put a hand on her shoulder to let her borrow some courage and calm. She smiled thankfully.

“You save them. He will die,” she urged.

“But, how?” Phil asked and now Dan stepped up next to him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“You’re Phil Lester. We’ll find a way. Come on. You were right before. It doesn’t matter that we don’t feel ready for this. We have to be. Cornelia, can you translate for us?”

She nodded enthusiastically.

“But… breaking ceremony is…” she seemed to search for a word she couldn’t find, “very, very bad. Bad luck.”

“We’ll take our chances,” Phil said and smiled at her. “Dan, do you think you could take away the masking of my glowing skin? I have a feeling we might as well go all out here.”

Dan looked unsure but he extended his magic and asked it to pull back the camouflage of Phil’s skin. It was usually Dan who did it for Phil because Dan was so instinctively good with all things related to masking magic, likely because of his past.

Phil started glowing brilliantly and Cornelia let out a gasp of awe.

“Ready?” Phil asked.

“Ready,” Dan replied.

They walked over to the ceremony and very quickly the drums and chanting died down and the crowds pulled back from the glowing man and his two companions. A lady started screaming angry foreign words at Cornelia, who then in turn screamed some back.

Dan and Phil just looked at each other and desperately wished they had any idea what was going on.

“They are angry,” Cornelia said and sent a death glare to the woman, who had screamed at her. “At you and me. Call me betrayer. They don’t like I read languages. And now I bring magic. She is the child’s mother.”

“The mother?” Phil asked and gaped at the fuming woman. “Surely, she would want to protect her child from this weird death ceremony.”

“No. She asked for it. _Glow_ child is bad luck. Parents want them dead.”

It felt like something dislocated inside of Dan. Parents had always been a sensitive topic for him. He’d had a rocky relationship with his own and after being essentially adopted by the Lesters, he felt like he was constantly reminded of how lucky some people were with their parents. He’d forgotten that there also existed parents like this.

Parents who cast aside their children simply because of the way they were born. Simply because they didn’t fit into the neat little boxes that society want them to. They were capable of different things that not everybody could do. It was sickening.

Phil felt like he might actually vomit. How could a mother do that to her child? He thought back to the way his parents had done everything to hide him from the world to protect him and keep him safe from those who would resent him because of his obvious magical powers. He thought of his mother’s loving touch and compared it to the pure hatred in the eyes of the woman in front of him.

“I am Philip Michael Lester. A human with _glow_ ,” Phil said and Cornelia dutifully translated. “I’m here to educate you about magic and soul snatchers. I want to show you that magic isn’t evil or something to be feared and that the monsters that lurk and claim your souls can be stopped. I’m here to make sure no more monsters are created.”

Someone from the crowd said something that definitely sounded like an insult.

“Err,” Cornelia hesitated. “They said go back home. Only rude.”

While Phil was trying to talk to the crowd, Dan had focused on the little child sitting on the dirt and watching the glowing man in awe. Dan could feel the hum from within the child, a strong affinity for magic indeed. This child could grow up to do wonderful things but here they were about to get executed when he was barely able to from coherent sentences.

This was a turning point for the boys. After this day, their lives would forever be changed, even if they didn’t realise it the moment they were caught in negotiations.

The child got on his feet and instantly the murderous mother moved forward to grab him. Dan’s _glow_ reacted instinctively catching her body and freezing her in place as he scowled. She kicked about and screamed but the young child didn’t even turn back to look at the woman who had given him life.

He was walking on wobbly legs towards Phil and with the mother immobilised, no one else dared to move.

Phil crouched down onto the child’s level.

“Hello,” he said and smiled as brightly as a thousand suns. “My name is Phil. What is your name?”

The connection between magic beings translated where language didn’t match up and the child understood.

“Evan,” he said in the tiniest voice.

“Nice to meet you, Evan,” Phil said and extended his hand.

Evan looked unsure, obviously still cautious of this foreign man’s glowing skin, but his inner _glow_ was singing in praises over having found another person with magic inside of them.

They shook hands and the little boy giggled and smiled. Dan’s heart might have been melting at the exchange and the three of them had forgot about crowd until the mother started chanting something.

“What is she saying?” Dan asked Cornelia.

“Old chant. Compel away evil spirits. Trying to take _glow_ from her son and you.”

Dan checked in with his _glow_ but it felt perfectly fine. It had grown immensely strong over the past couple of years and didn’t seem bothered one bit about the angry chanting woman.

“It’s not working.”

Cornelia just shrugged and glanced around to the crowds. “They fear you.”

Dan nodded in understanding. It was not their usual approach to just march in, interrupt a ceremony and freeze one of the villagers.

“Phil?” Dan asked and Phil looked up from where he’d been wordlessly communicating with little Evan.

“You think you might go touch a few shoulders and let them feel that magic isn’t evil? I doubt they’d be willing to listen to us right now otherwise.”

“Come talk to Evan, then,” Phil said and moved off as Evan proudly walked over to Dan. They exchanged handshakes and Dan felt how magic let him in on Evan’s foreign mutters.

The child was still scared and confused as to why it’s mother suddenly seemed so angry. He didn’t know what he’d done wrong to get her to react like that. Dan had never seen himself as someone who was good with children but perhaps he had changed with age.

Communicating with Evan was easy.

Phil moved around the circle, placing glancing touches on everyone he passed. Most were just scared and when his light reached out to reassure them, they loosened up. However, some were so hateful and set in their ways that Phil’s light couldn’t take hold. One of those people was the child’s mother.

She kept spitting what Phil could only guess were profanities at him. She would not be budged and Phil’s heart sank. If they could not convince the mother then what would happen to little Evan?

The circle dispersed and even the hateful knew when they’d lost the battle and retreated for now. They didn’t want to mess with someone as powerful as Phil. Dan unfroze the mother and she made another lunge for her child, this time with the intend of strangling it with her bare hands.

Phil stepped in-between and stared down at the woman.

“You don’t ever go after him again. You are blinded by hatred and not worthy of being a mother of that wonderful child. He is no longer yours when you wish to end his life simply because of who he is. Leave immediately.”

The woman didn’t understand Phil’s tongue but she could sense the threat in his words and retreated after tossing off more bad words.

“That was… amazing!” Cornelia applauded. “But I fear… they may hate me now.”

“Why would they? You are clearly a capable, bright young woman who isn’t afraid to speak her mind. Over half of them at least doesn’t think magic is evil anymore,” Phil said.

Cornelia smiled at him overbearingly. “I fear that is why, Phil. I am too different. Too hungry for knowledge.”

“Why don’t you leave then?” Dan asked from where he was still crouched next to Evan. Orphan Evan now since it seemed there wasn’t a father in the picture.

“I will. One day. I am saving money,” she said. “I want to go to your land.”

“Our land?” Dan asked baffled but he could see how it would be a big upgrade from this place.

She nodded and then her eyes fell to young Evan. “What with him?” she asked.

Dan and Phil exchanged glances. Phil sort of had the look when they came across a stray puppy and Phil wanted to bring it along with them.

“We can’t take a child with us, Phil,” Dan said sternly, even if he was slightly impaired by Evan’s sweet face and horrible situation.

Phil sighed. “I know. We still have years of travel left but what else can we do? His mother doesn’t want him. He doesn’t have a father, does he?”

Cornelia shrugged. “Unknown. Always only mother.”

It broke their hearts a little more and then Phil got a brilliant idea. They certainly weren’t fit for looking after such a young child but Phil knew someone who might be. Someone who had always wanted children of her own but had to settle with bringing other’s children into this world.

“Carly!” Phil exclaimed. “We’ll take him to Carly.”

Dan hesitated, not quite so fast to jump on board. “We can’t just spring a baby on her, Phil.”

“He’s not a baby, and I know she’ll take him. Trust me, it’s perfect. You’ll love Carly so much, Evan. She’s got _glow_ like you, me and Dan.”

“You are taking him?” Cornelia asked confused. “Home with you? But long travel?”

“Oh, it’s not that long,” Phil said. “A bit tougher than most but we can be home in a jiffy.”

Cornelia looked to Dan for help, clearly thrown off by Phil’s choice of words.

“Magic. We use magic to travel. We can travel far distances in a very short period of time,” Dan explained.

“Wait! Another great idea, why don’t we take you too, Cornelia? You said you wanted to move to our land. We could take you there. We even have a place we hardly get to stay in anymore. And I have a family who could show you the robes.”

“Would you take me with you?” she asked in wonder.

Dan was fighting an eye roll because Phil was getting out of hand. Still, Dan could see the benefits of bringing a linguist like Cornelia to their side of the world. They’d need a liable translator in the future and she seemed to have a flair for languages.

“We could use your help in the future,” Dan explained. “For when we need to travel to foreign places and don’t speak the language. Maybe you could help us?”

Suddenly, Cornelia was babbling in her mother tongue and pulled Evan up on her hip and then pulled Dan and Phil forward into a hug. They just all started spontaneously laughing.

They undoubtedly looked absolutely insane to anyone still curiously watching the two magical foreigners who had interfered with a mother’s wishes.

And home the four of them went and Carly was, as Phil predicted, overjoyed with little Evan. She absolutely adored him. Cornelia became fluent in their language in record time and kept improving and learning other ones. She also got on extremely well with Phil’s brother Martyn and soon enough they became actual family, when she got engaged to him.

As predicted, she would sometimes come travelling with them and translate their information. Martyn came along too and he proved to have a lot of insight in how to deal with having someone close to you being able to wield magic.

Evan wasn’t the only child they ended up bringing home. More would follow in his footsteps. Children with _glow_ often scared their parents and sometimes, it either manifested in hatred or fear, neither of which enabled them to raise a child. Carly became the official mother but Dan and Phil felt some paternal feelings for the children they saved too. They weren’t home much but they always prioritised to see their rescue children.

Those children were given a second chance thanks for Dan and Phil. They were given the opportunity for a healthy life and an upbringing with people who loved and understood them.

Nearly ten years into their adventures, only one exposed vein of magic remained. Dan would no longer be able to hide from his past. It was time to face the place that turned him a monster and the family he’d run away from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the extra chapter I added to the original ten. I just quite liked the idea of addressing how they would deal with language barriers and Cornelia fit in perfectly here by accident. And I wanted to introduce the whole saving (or adopting) children because that's present in the final chapter of this collection of bonus chapters. I hope you liked it. It was quite interesting to write them react to someone so full of hatred and it really broke all of their hearts. 
> 
> Next update will be about Dan finally going back to face his family. I'm hoping I'll be able to get it up next Wednesday, the 6th of September, but I just started university again and I haven't had time to pre-write it. Worst case scenario, I'll have to push it back to the following Wednesday but I'll try my best to get it ready for next week as I know a lot of you have wanted to see that particular bonus chapter. I also just want to make sure I do their interaction justice. 
> 
> That turned out to be a long author's note. My apologies. But I hope you liked this chapter and I would love to hear your thoughts.


	10. The Reunion Of A Damaged Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan couldn't put it off any longer. He'd have to go face the vein of exposed magic that had turned him into a soul snatcher and he would have to face the family he'd abandoned and stayed away from because of fear. He had Phil by his side but would it be enough to calm his nerves?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like this chapter - it was a beast to write. More on that in the end note. Enjoy!

There was no longer any way around it. They had closed literally every single other vein in the entire world. Dan had pushed his procrastination to the absolute maximum level.

It hadn’t even been on purpose really. Yeah, for a long time he wasn’t ready to face his family but then it felt like too much time had passed. He couldn’t just go now because he’d put it off for too long and it would just make it even more awkward.

Dan knew there was a fault in his logic because they would eventually have to face the vein that turned him into a soul snatcher. They couldn’t leave one unwarded, because that would make all their hard work fragile and they were almost at the finish line.

They felt pretty tired of it by now. They were ready for it to be over. They were ready to go back home to the gated mansion where they’d opened the doors for all those children with _glow,_ who didn’t have families that wanted them. Evan had been the first one they’d taken in and Carly was the one looking after the place and the kids and teenagers staying there.

It had become a place of refuge and a place to learn about _glow_. It doubled as a home and a school and Dan and Phil had recruited teachers from all over the world. A lot of young people with _glow_ would travel from far away to take lessons at their place.

The abandoned children had started to feel slightly like their own and in some cases Carly or the two of them had officially adopted some of them to ensure that their hateful parents couldn’t call them back.

Dan and Phil was still travelling a lot but with this last vein that would be over. They would officially be finished closing exposed veins of magic. All they had taught during their journey was spreading on its own. After this their work would hopefully be done. They could retire to the mansion home and focus on themselves and the kids that felt like family.

But firstly, Dan would have to face the thing that still scared him more than anything. He’d stopped being afraid around regular veins of magic by now because he had so much experience being up close with them. With Phil’s palm pressed against his own, Dan knew the magic wouldn’t hurt him.

But even if he knew logically, he’d be fine going back to the place that turned him into a soulless monster because it was just like any of the thousands of exposed veins they’d closed, it still felt very different.

“Dan, I can do it on my own, if you can’t face it,” Phil said as he interlocked their fingers.

They’d been home for a couple of days to catch up with Carly and all the kids at the school and Phil’s family, which included Cornelia and her and Martyn’s kids now.

“No,” Dan said and took a steadying breath. He’d been beside Phil through all this and he wasn’t about to back out now, no matter how scared he felt. For facing that particular vein of magic and undoubtedly going to face his family afterwards.

If they got that close, Phil wouldn’t let him off the hook. If Dan didn’t do it now, then he would never get around to it. That didn’t make the thought less terrifying.

Phil nodded and gave Dan’s hand a gentle squeeze before he transported them to the forest a day’s hike away from the town Dan grew up in.

Dan kept his eyes closed for a long time and Phil didn’t rush him. Instead, he inspected the little clearing.

The exposed magic was calling out to him. It was just a dip in ground but it glowed welcomingly. However, Phil shuddered because he could vividly imagine an eighteen year old Dan, scared and peer-pressured, reacting out to touch the glowing mass.

Dan had avoided talking about the pain of it, which told Phil all he needed to know. Dan was just trying to spare him for knowing the excruciating pain it was to have your soul ripped apart, fractured and corrupted, and pulled almost entirely from your body into the pure source of magic.

There had been tiny flickers of Dan’s soul left but it hadn’t been much and the pieces had been sent to the farthest corners of his mind.

Phil could never hate magic. He loved his light too much for that and he knew about all the good and joy it created, but at that moment… he almost did hate it. He knew magic hadn’t consciously tried to corrupt, break and condemn poor humans to an existence as a soul snatcher. It was just part of the biology but it still set Phil’s teeth on edge to remember that the substance he loved so much had hurt Dan so deeply.

Dan had kept his eyes shut while trying to keep from hyperventilating. It felt as if it wasn’t real if he didn’t open his eyes. He wanted to keep them shut forever. However, that would mean he’d never get to see Phil’s lovely blue eyes again, so he didn’t have much of a choice.

He cautiously opened his eyes and glanced around.

Huh…

The place looked smaller and less scary than it had been in his memory. It was late spring with plenty of vibrant green leaves and a light breeze in the air. The light from the exposed vein of magic seemed welcoming, calling out to his _glow_.

The last time he stood here, he’d been so excited and scared at the same time. He’d thought that it was the moment his life would change. He thought that if he got the ability to wield magic, he’d fit in and not feel like such an outcast anymore.

He’d been wrong. Touching the magic had had extremely dire consequences. But then again, touching it had been the thing that changed his life. He’d never have been turned into a soul snatcher and if that hadn’t happened, then he’d never have met Phil.

“You look confused,” Phil whispered, pulling Dan out of his own thoughts.

“I am… sort of. I didn’t think it would feel like this. I’ve been scared of this place since I was eighteen. But it’s just so… normal. The magic here isn’t different from all the other places like I illogically worried. It’s just another vein of magic.”

“No, it’s not. It’s the one you touched for the first time, Dan. The magic is the same at the core, just escaping here but this place is special for you and it’s okay you’ve waited this long. Don’t you dare start blaming yourself for waiting,” Phil insisted.

Dan hadn’t gotten to think about that but the thought had started forming as Phil was speaking. It was inevitable that Dan’s mind would go there and somehow Phil had figured it out before Dan had.

He’d waited for years because he was afraid and then it turned out that there was nothing to be afraid of. He felt like a fool, even with Phil’s pre-emptive reassurance ringing in his ears.

“I let them down all these years, Phil…” Dan whispered.

“No, you didn’t,” Phil said and pulled Dan into his arms, hugging him tightly. “You had a traumatic experience. Don’t dwell on the past. Let’s close up this thing and then go visit your hometown. I’ll be right here with you the whole time.”

Dan’s mind was still running too fast for him to keep track but he nodded anyway. Phil always knew what to do in situations like this.

Closing up the exposed vein wasn’t any more difficult than it had been with any of the others. Phil coaxed the magic to pull around a protective shield like he’d done more than a thousand times. Dan might have held his breath as the ward went over them but Phil’s hand felt steady in his.

The magic didn’t harm him. It just moved past him, leaving a pleasant hum within his core. He was a human with _glow_ and had been for over ten years, yet sometimes it was easy to forget. He’d wanted _glow_ so badly when he’d been a teenager and when he’d finally gotten it he had been much more focused on the person who’d granted him the gift and what they could do together than the magic itself.

“That was the last one,” Phil said and beamed at Dan. “I can’t actually believe it, Dan. We did it; 2,022 veins of exposed magic warded off. We finally got there.”

“You kept count?” Dan exclaimed and threw back his head in laughter.

He could feel the giddiness coming off Phil and it was incredibly contagious. They had been working towards this for such a long time. It had been an adventure and at some points it had felt like it would never end.

But it had. They had done it. No longer would magic accidentally create soul snatchers and the ones still in existence were slowly going extinct. No one would ever have to suffer the fate that Dan had almost been condemned to for an eternity, if he hadn’t stumbled upon a glowing child and chosen to hesitate.

“So… that was the easy part. Are you ready for the hard part?” Phil asked walked outside of the protective ward and admired their work.

“No,” Dan said honestly. “But I don’t think I’ll ever be. I have to go now. I’ve made them wait long enough. I’m just…”

“What?” Phil asked.

“I’m scared they’ll hate me, Phil. I abandoned them. I ran away from home, no matter how good my excuse. And I’ve been back with my soul for so many years now. How do I explain all of that to them?” Dan asked in a very quiet and timid voice.

“Hey,” Phil said and placed his hand on either sides of Dan’s face. “If I lost you, I wouldn’t be mad it took you a long time to get back to me. You and I both know you had your reasons to stay away. Your family will understand. Trust me, they’ll just be happy to have you back.”

“You don’t know my family,” Dan argued.

“But I know you, Dan, almost as well as you know yourself. You need to stop worrying and just take the leap.”

Dan almost tripped over his own feet as Phil teleported them without any warning.

“Phiiil!” Dan hissed and caught his balance.

“Sorry, but it had to be done,” Phil said and clasped a hand on Dan’s shoulder.

They both took in the sight before them. They were in a town not very different from Phil’s hometown. Small cosy houses. A few people going about their way. A group of children playing in a sandpit.

It made Phil think back to that time they’d gone to close the vein in his hometown and they’d watched two children play catch by using their _glow_. There was a group of five children, all different ages and appearances, and at least one of them had _glow_ and was using it to mould a sandcastle. It seemed oddly fitting; they’d find a similar sight after closing their last one. It was like things were coming full circle.

Phil was watching the child with _glow_ but Dan’s eyes were tainted on another child. It struck him and froze him in place momentarily before he began moving forward to get a better look. That young boy, probably around Phil’s age when they’d first met, looked exactly like Dan had when he’d been younger.

“He looks exactly like me…” Dan muttered and crouched down.

The same round face, brown eyes, brown curly hair and chubby fingers. The child didn’t have _glow_ Dan noted as he had gotten up close and he didn’t register how inappropriate it was to walk up to a child he didn’t know until Phil cleared his voice.

“Dan, this looks really…” Phil started to say only to stop when some shouted and interrupted him.

“Hey! What are you doing to my son? Get…” an angry male voice called out and the Dan replica looked up towards the voice, which fell away entirely when the man locked eyes with Dan.

Dan couldn’t believe his own eyes. It had to be him. Sure, he’d aged and changed from when Dan last saw him as a young teenager. He was a fully-grown man now, looking at least Dan’s age or a little more, thanks to Dan’s decade long rest and aging pause. But there wasn’t a single doubt in Dan’s mind.

His _glow_ sang internally when it sensed the _glow_ in the man before them.

It was Adrian. Dan’s little brother, though he wasn’t so little anymore.

“Hi Adrian,” Dan whispered, voice caught in his throat.

He wasn’t ready for this. He hadn’t been ready for Phil to teleport them. He hadn’t been ready to just stumble upon his long-lost brother, who looked caught completely off guard.

“It’s really you,” Adrian muttered, sounding completely wrecked. “Daniel.”

“Yes, dad?” asked the little kid while glancing up towards Adrian.

Dan’s heart felt like it snapped in two. Adrian had a child. A child named after him. Dan had been an uncle for years and he hadn’t even known. Dan was scared Adrian would start shouting. Dan had taken so long to come home and he’d expected the worst. He’d missed the birth of his nephew.

However, Adrian just rushed forward and pulled Dan into a bone-crushing hug. The two pair of _glow_ felt like they ignited upon the physical contact. Dan felt the love his brother still had for him, even after he’d been missing for so many years.

“I thought… I hoped that maybe… But I didn’t… I couldn’t… Daniel, I can’t believe you’re here,” Adrian said when he finally pulled away from the hug.

Dan felt a little unsure on his feet. Phil’s hand came up to rest on his lower back and that made breathing a little easier.

“Sorry I took so long,” Dan muttered.

Adrian let out a rather hysterical laugh. “I’m just… I can’t believe it’s you, Daniel. You’re real. You’re still alive. When I heard about everything, all this information about how soul snatchers were actually people transformed… I remembered how you’d disappeared right after returning home from seeking out magic. I was so terrified for you but then there was the talks of a Dan, a reformed soul snatcher, travelling with this century’s _light_ and I just…”

Adrian trailed off and seemed to notice that Phil was there too.

“That’s you,” Adrian said with wonder and extended his hand. “You’re the _light_ of the century.”

“Or you could just call me Phil,” Phil replied. “Nice to meet you.”

When the exchanged handshakes, Phil took note of Adrian’s _glow_ , which was strong and steady. It felt a bit like the one Dan had gotten, though it felt mostly like Phil’s own.

“Yeah, sorry. You’re just like the most powerful man in the world right now and you know Daniel. Our Daniel. You’ve closed up exposed veins of magic and educated everyone on soul snatchers.”

The younger Daniel looked up again, only for a moment before turning the attention back at his toys.

Phil laughed awkwardly and then cleared his throat. “It was a team effort really. I couldn’t have done it without your brother. He’s been detrimental to everything I do.”

Dan was just watching the interaction in complete awe. How could Phil just be so chill? How could Adrian just be so chill? Why had he been so scared of this?

“You’re not mad?” Dan asked.

“Huh? Mad? Why would I be mad?” Adrian asked.

Dan took a deep breath and gathered up his courage. Adrian deserved to know what had happened.

“Because I haven’t been a soul snatcher for over ten years. I’ve been human and it took me this long to get here. Because I ran away from all of you, leaving nothing but a crappy note. Because I missed the birth of your child and… I wasn’t here, Adrian. And my only reason is that I was scared.”

“Daniel,” Adrian said. “I heard about the ceremony that turned Dan the not-quite soul snatcher into a human again. Everyone with _glow_ and most without have heard about that feat. I… I thought that might have been you when I put the pieces together but I couldn’t be sure. Am I a bit pissed that you didn’t come before now? Yes.”

Dan flinched and braced himself for the verbal overthrown he had feared for years.

“However, I know you, Dan. I’m amazed you made it here at all. Clearly, someone has been a good influence on you because you always used to avoid your problems instead of facing them. So I’m happy, more than anything else. I’ve missed you a whole lot, brother,” Adrian said and pulled Dan into another hug.

Dan was tearing up and he didn’t do anything actively to stop it.

“You okay?” asked a small concerned voice from the ground and the three men looked down at little Daniel.

“Yes, son. We’re good. Your old dad is just a bit emotional,” Adrian said and wiped away tears that had formed in his eyes as well. “I want you to meet someone. Do you remember how I told you that you were named after my brother?”

The little kid nodded. Phil found his little face utterly adorable. Phil felt oddly privileged to be part of this moment.

“Well, this is him. Daniel, meet Daniel.”

The little kid held out a hand with Dan took carefully and shook with the utmost care.

“ _Glow_ ,” Adrian’s son noted. “Like you, dad.”

Phil crouched down to say hello to little Daniel afterwards and the kid started giggling the moment he touched Phil. It was something they had learnt was quite common when Phil came into contact with young children. His strong positive vibes melted right into the child and they got overjoyed.

“I can’t believe you named your son after me,” Dan whispered as he watched his nephew and the most important man in his life smile and giggle together.

“Maybe I hoped that one day his namesake would make his way back home. Actually, he’s getting a younger sibling in a few months. My wife’s pregnant again,” Adrian said proudly.

It felt like a punch in the gut to be reminded of how much Dan had missed out on. Watching his little brother grow up, go on dates, get married and becoming a father. Well, at least he could be here from now on.

“If you’re looking for names, Philip is a really good one,” Phil suggested.

Adrian and Dan both huffed out a laugh that sounded very similar.

“It’ll be probably be a girl, but we’ll consider Philippa instead then,” Adrian promised. “Speaking of my wife, I need to get Daniel home or she’ll worry… but we have to go to our parents’ first.”

Dan had slowly begun to relax around Adrian but the reminder that he would also have to face his parents brought a whole new wave of nerves on. He was most worried about Adrian in the sense he had kept a little hope alive that Adrian wouldn’t hate him. He was a hundred per cent certain that his parents wouldn’t forgive him for running away and staying away for over twenty years.

Dan couldn’t do it. He couldn’t face his parents. Just seeing Adrian and little Daniel was breaking his damn heart. His younger brother had been surprisingly calm and happy about Dan’s long absence but he knew his parents wouldn’t accept it as quickly.

He’d run away from them, the people that were supposed to look after him and care for him. He’d left nothing but a crappy note and then just vanished. He knew there were an explanation, a good one even, but it still felt utterly terrifying.

He had an excuse for the soul snatcher years but what about all the years that had follow? Instead of coming straight here, he’d gone around the world with Phil to work on something important but he wasn’t sure his parents would see it that way. They hadn’t been too happy with Adrian’s _glow_. They had been so happy with all the benefits from it, such as likability, but the magic in itself had always put them a bit on edge.

How did Dan explain to his parents that the magic their youngest wielded had turned their oldest into a soul snatching monster, who then later gained the ability to wield magic as well? He was slightly worried that they wouldn’t believe him. He’d always had a very active imagination and his parents hadn’t always gotten it. They’d asked him to focus on the real world and forget about magic and scenarios that would never happen.

Phil’s hand came up on his shoulder, grounding Dan with his touch. Phil had seen how Dan’s mind had started spinning and his eyes had gone vacant. Adrian had been talking to Daniel but he was now staring at his brother with concern and Dan didn’t even seem to sense it, let alone see him.

Phil was slightly worried that Dan was tethering close to having a panic attack or an existential crisis.

But Phil knew his touch would help Dan and he reached out with his magic to reassure Adrian that everything was okay. Dan’s brother almost jerked in surprise when he felt the emotions projected by Phil and his jaw dropped in awe, but then he nodded in understanding.

Finally, Dan seemed to come back to the surface, blinking himself into focus as he realised that he’d spaced out.

“I don’t know if I can meet Mum and Dad, Adrian,” Dan whispered.

“Nonsense. Whatever you’re worried about, you need to get over it. They are your parents – our parents – and they love you very much.”

“You can’t pretend that me disappearing didn’t hurt them. How can you be so sure they would want to see me again? I’m sure they’re better off with me out of their lives.”

Phil’s heart was breaking at Dan’s words. He’d sensed the essence of them before but hearing Dan say it out loud with a trembling voice felt like physical pain in his soul. He wanted so desperately to make it better and to say something comforting or offer Dan an out from the situation that clearly pushed him to the edge. But that was what they’d been doing until now. Phil had made sure Dan knew he was loved, he’d given him comfort when needed and they’d stayed away from this scary topic but they couldn’t stay away any longer.

“That’s not true,” Adrian said. “You have to come see them, Daniel. They love you and they miss you. Trust me.”

Phil could feel Dan’s whole body wound tight like a spring but yet he nodded, even if it look like it took a lot of effort.

Adrian broke into an enormous smile and bend down to pick up Daniel. Phil’s heart ached at the sight of a father with his child and he thought about all the children him and Dan had rescued along the way. He thought about the school and home they’d made and how while not being their actual parents, he felt paternal feeling for so many of those kids and he knew Dan felt the same.

The walk to the house of Dan and Adrian’s parents was one of awkward silence. Little Daniel kept muttering but other than that they walked in silence. Phil kept his hands on Dan. It was just little touches but with every little gesture a tiny bit of tension melted out of Dan.

Coming to a stop in front of the door to the house that Dan had grown up in nearly sent him sprinting the other way. He’d fantasised that his parents had moved abroad to somewhere fancy and unreachable so he’d never have to do this but no such luck. They were still in the same house Dan had run away from over twenty years ago.

Dan was leaning back as Adrian reached for the doorknob but Phil’s hand was resting on his lower back and he couldn’t move backwards. He looked over his shoulder to see Phil smiling at him reassuringly.

If Phil hadn’t been there, Dan would have most certainly run away. He was good at hiding from his problems and pretending that they didn’t exist. Over the years he’d lived and travelled with Phil, he’d gotten a lot better at facing his problems head on. He felt braver when it was the two of them against the world.

But this was Dan’s family and Phil didn’t really have any obligation to be here. But nevertheless he was there; steady as always to provide support to Dan when he needed it.

“Hello?” Adrian shouted and sat Daniel down on the floor. The toddler was off immediately stumbling into a house he clearly was familiar with.

“Is that my favourite boy?” called a feminine voice and Dan’s heart shattered.

He’d forgotten so many things over the years but his mother’s voice wasn’t one of them. If he’d really concentrated, he could recall her when she talked him down from a nightmare or told him that she loved him. But imagining it and hearing it was two very different things.

A woman stepped into the hallway, her focus entirely on the little boy running towards her. She was just like Dan remembered her. Sure, she’d gotten older but her eyes still crinkled the same and she still sounded exactly like she had the day he’d run away in an attempt to keep his family safe.

She looked up and she froze. Her entire body went rigid as she saw Dan behind Adrian. Her mouth fell open to form an O and she just kept staring even as Daniel started tugging at her leg to catch her attention.

“Hi Mum,” Adrian said and moved forward to grab hold of Daniel, who didn’t seem one bit please that his grandmother was ignoring him. “I found someone.”

For a moment, Dan wondered if she even recognised him. He’d changed over the years even if he’d been frozen age-wise for a decade. But then her hands came up to cover her mouth and a gut-wrenching sob escaped her lips.

“Daniel,” she sobbed and then she was moving, faster than Dan had ever seen his elegant mother move. She almost shoved Adrian and Daniel aside and suddenly there was the press of a very familiar hug against his front. She was clinging onto him as for dear life. Dan felt wetness on his cheeks and wondered when he’d started crying as he brought his arms up in a rushed motion to return the hug. He was hugging his mother. He never thought he’d be able to have this.

Phil had stepped back to give the two of them some space and he wiped the back of his hand to catch the tear threatening to escape. He could sense all the emotions in the air.

Over the years, his light and Dan’s _glow_ had formed quite the bond and he could always sense what Dan was feeling and at the moment, Dan was a whole mess of emotions. The mother and son clung onto each other for a long time while the three others kept their distance.

“I thought we lost you. My beautiful Daniel,” Dan’s mother said and pulled back slightly from the hug to bring her hands up on either side of Dan’s face. She was stroking his cheeks and looking at him as if he might disappear into thin air in front of her. To be fair, he could actually do that now, but she didn’t know that.

“I’m so sorry, Mum,” Dan said, his voice almost failing him. “I should have…. I’m sorry. So sorry.”

“Shh,” she shushed him. “Don’t worry, my baby. I missed you so much.”

She went in for another hug and Dan thought he’d never get enough. He thought to the feeling of Mrs Lester’s hugs and how he always wondered what it would be like to have a hug like that from his own mother again. A hug that poured love into your very soul.

“Excuse my manners,” Dan’s mother said and pulled back when she spotted Phil hovering behind Dan. “I’m a little… frazzled.”

“That’s understandable. No worries,” Phil said and smiled brightly. Dan’s mother was watching Phil with a keen interest.

“Ah, M-mum, this is my friend Phil,” Dan introduced, reaching out to put a hand on Phil’s shoulder and using the contact to stabilise himself.

“Dan was the one travelling around with this century’s _light_ after all, Mum,” Adrian added from the hallway where he was gently swaying Daniel on his hip.

The next few minutes were a bit of a blur to Dan but somehow it ended up with him and Phil alone in the living room while Adrian had gone to fetch his wife with Daniel and Dan’s mother was preparing tea in the kitchen. Phil was fairly certain she was talking on the phone as well but he didn’t try to eavesdrop.

Dan felt numb and as if all his nerve endings had been fried. Phil reached over and interlocked their hands and gave him a light squeeze. Dan’s mother came in with tea and sat down and looked at the boys expectantly. She’s already gotten the gist of the story in the hallway mostly told from Adrian and Phil because Dan had felt unable to express himself whatsoever.

“So let me get this right? Magic turned Dan into a soul snatcher and he almost killed you, Phil, only he didn’t and your powerful magic brought back his soul?” she asked. “And then later Dan awoke from some sort of slumber and you went around the world fighting monsters?”

Dan let out a dry laugh by accident. It was a quite eccentric story and he didn’t blame his mother for being a bit sceptical but then she surprised him.

“I’ve heard of you, of course. The legends of the pair of magic wielding humans that literally travelled around the globe to make it a safer place for everyone and give magic wielding humans like Adrian a chance to live openly. But I never could bring myself to believe that the reversed soul snatcher was my own son. Adrian mentioned the possibility of it but… if he’d been wrong… I couldn’t take that chance. I’d already lost my son once and if he was mistaken, it would have felt like losing you all over again, Daniel.”

“I’m sorry,” Dan whispered, looking down and squeezing Phil’s hand painfully tight. “I shouldn’t have taken so long. I should have done it before. I should…”

“Don’t do that to yourself, my dear,” his mother interrupted. “Don’t get all caught up in your head with scenarios that didn’t happen. Live in the now. You came back for us.”

“After years and years…”

“It doesn’t matter. My heart was already broken, Daniel. And yes, I’m sad I endured it for longer but you can’t change the past. You can only choose your future. You ran away to protect us. To protect your little brother. I can see the self-hatred and shame in you still but it’s not justified. You did something completely self-less, Daniel. I’m so proud of you. You probably saved your brother’s life. I know you, even if I haven’t been part of your life for a long time. You always do what you think is best.”

Dan was crying again but had he ever really stopped? He’d felt teary-eyed the moment he stepped over the threshold of his childhood home.

“I was so sure you’d resent me,” he whispered and Phil’s free hand came up to wrap around his shoulders.

Phil felt slightly like he was intruding on a private moment but he recalled a conversation he’d had with Dan a couple of years ago. Phil had been trying to nudge Dan into going to his old town and Dan had shut it down like he had so many other times. But then he’d said something that Phil would still remember to this day. “If I ever do face them, don’t leave me alone. I need you there, Phil. I can’t do it on my own but with you beside me, I might just be able to do it someday.”

And today was that day and Phil couldn’t be prouder of Dan.

They heard the distinctive sound of the creaky front door open and Dan went completely pale next to Phil. One of the perks of having _glow_ was that you didn’t always need your eyes to know who was getting close to you. You could feel it out in energies and despite Dan not having had _glow_ the last time he was in his parents’ house, he instantly knew who had stepped in the front door.

It wasn’t like there were a lot of options. It would either be Adrian coming back with his wife and kid or it would be Dan’s father.

Dan had dreaded meeting his father most of all. He’d worried so much about the reaction from his little brother but it had been a different kind of fear to face his father. The man had always made Dan feel like he didn’t measure up to his potential and Dan had hated it every time his father had tried to nudge him down paths that hadn’t suited him.

Becoming a man slaughterer monster and gaining that weird magic that his father didn’t understand probably didn’t quality as a good way to spent his life. Even if Dan had spent years travelling around with Phil changing the world in ways people couldn’t have even have imagined.

With heavy steps, Dan’s father appeared in the doorway into the living room. He took one look at Dan and his entire face fell.

Dan suddenly remembered how closely he was sitting with Phil and how their hands were interlocked. No matter what the reality was, the image would look… bizarre to his father. Dan self-consciously moved away from the safety of Phil’s touch and stood up. He felt a little better standing, less looked down on because of his height advantage, even though he wanted to reach out and connect with Phil again.

“It’s really you,” his father said and Dan felt like he might burst into tear if it wasn’t for the anxiety bit in his stomach keeping him from expressing any sort of emotion.

“I just told you on the phone,” Dan’s mother interrupted. “Of course, it’s him. How many sons do you have that have run off?”

“Forgive me if I’m a bit sceptical when you said he turned into one of those soul sucking monsters and then someone like Adrian turned him back to normal. It sounds far-fetched.”

There was an edge in his father’s voice that made Dan crumble back into the sofa and lean against Phil, who instantly offered him support.

Phil could feel the heartbreak in Dan and he opened his mouth to say something on behalf of Dan again. Dan would never defend himself, not in a situation like this. But Phil could sense that Dan’s father was masking something, keeping his cards close to his chest and it was a defence mechanism that Dan had inherited.

When Phil had first found Dan for the second time, the brunet had done all that he could to push him away and not acknowledge his feelings. Evidently, this was something he’d gotten from his father.

“Dan was turned into a soul snatcher, Mr Howell, like so many other young men that go away to prove themselves by challenging magic. Dark urges took over him and yet he was still capable enough to get as far away from his perfect prey – his younger brother – as possible. He saved Adrian’s life and he eventually got his life back. He’s spent every single day since trying to make the world a better place and trying to move past the things he did when he was not in control. He lost almost all of his soul and getting it back was not easy feat. He ran away to protect you and since then he’s devoted his life to protecting others as well. I will not have you speak like that to him.”

Phil was still sitting but he was staring at Dan’s father, who seemed to crumble and shatter at the _light’s_ words. Phil felt something flare up in Dan next to him, immense gratitude and love, but Dan’s father’s defences were also falling away.

His energy let on just how devastated he was and Dan jerked up when he felt it, just like Phil did.

“I… I should… I’m sorry, Daniel. I didn’t mean it like that. I-I just… We thought we’d lost you. And then Adrian was there with his theories and I just… I didn’t want any of it to be true. I wanted you to just have run away and be happy somewhere else. Because if you’d been hurt, if I had failed to protect you… I should have protected you, Daniel. It’s my job to look after you and I failed!”

Dan had never seen his father cry before. His father was a stoic and strict man but still reasonable and kind. But Dan had never seen him in such a state. Hesitantly, he got on his feet and made his way over to his father and stopped just in front of him.

It felt wrong to see his father crying. It felt so wrong to hear about the guilt he’d been carrying for such a long time. Dan felt terrible for not showing up earlier, but everyone was right that he couldn’t change that now.

“It’s okay,” Dan said because he didn’t blame his father for getting him turned into a soul snatcher. It hadn’t even occurred to him that he might feel that way. It was been the boys’ at school idea and it had been Dan who’d gone through with it. It had nothing to do with his father but he also knew that guilt could be misplaced and it still hurt like hell.

“It’s not okay, Daniel. I should have protected you. I’m your father. I shouldn’t have let anything like that happen to you.”

Dan gulped and gathered his courage. “You couldn’t have protected me, Dad. I went because I wanted to. No one knew how dangerous it was, which is why I’ve spent a decade travelling around with Phil to educate people and make sure it never happens again. We’ve made sure it’ll never happen again.”

Dan’s father looked positively baffled. “You did that? That’s what you’ve been doing all this time?”

Dan braced himself for the verbal bashing of why he hadn’t come to see them sooner. Why he’d prioritised everything else over reuniting with his family. Dan didn’t want to tell them the truth that he’d been scared of their reactions.

But his father didn’t say at all what Dan expected. Instead, he leaned forward and clasped a hand around Dan’s shoulder.

“You’ve done good, my boy.”

And now, Dan was definitely sopping. His father never did well with crying but soon enough Phil was behind him, pulling Dan into his arms and holding him tight.

“And I take it you’re the magical boy,” Dan’s father said in a scrutinising tone.

“Oh, let off,” Dan’s mother interrupted. “That boy singlehandedly put Daniel back together. You must see how they lean on each other. You’re not allowed to interrogate him.”

Dan let out a big laugh at the ridiculousness of all of it while Phil chuckled nervously. Maybe now it would be his turn to be interrogated by the family just like Dan had been through so many years before.

When Dan’s breathing had calmed down, the two boys broke apart and the front door swung open again and brought in Adrian, Daniel and a pregnant lady.

It was almost too much for Dan to handle. He wanted to retreat with Phil and go somewhere safe and familiar. This place had been his home and these people were his family and he was actually happy to be reunited with them again. However, Phil was the one who truly felt like home now.

A dinner and many conversations followed. Slowly but surely, Dan began to relax more, even if he did start to well up every half hour. He’d missed so much and he’d been so scared about coming back.

He hadn’t wanted to dwell on how he broke his mother’s heart, made his father live with guilt or cause Adrian to grow up without his support. Instead, he focused on watching his family members as they were now.

He couldn’t change his past actions but he could change his future ones. He had found a family with Phil and the Lesters and he didn’t want to give that up for anything in the world but he felt happy to have his old family back too.

You didn’t have to limit how many people you loved. It wasn’t as if you’d run out of your supply of love. Phil had taught Dan that the heart grew to accommodate more people and Phil should know, he occupied a rather large part of Dan’s heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ended up writing this chapter over three different sessions and it turned out much longer than expected. Nearly 7k. Like what the actual heck? But I hope you liked it! I know a few of you inquired about Dan getting to see his family and I hope this chapter didn't disappoint. I just couldn't help myself by adding a nephew with Dan's name, so Phil also got to see a child version of Dan. And I hope I didn't make the reunion unrealistic. It's mostly happy because I just couldn't bear to have Dan become more sad. He's already beat himself up so much over all these years. 
> 
> And this was the penultimate chapter, so now there's just one final one. It's not written yet but I do hope to have it ready to post next Wednesday. It's mostly just going to be a short piece of fluff, which will be a nice contrast to all the angst in this. Thank you so much for reading (mostly the story but also this ramble of an author's note).


	11. The Soulmates Who Grew Old Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Over seventy years after they met, Dan and Phil have a quiet evening, side by side as always, where they take a moment to reflect on their life together and catch up with just a fraction of the people they've helped over the years.

On one hand, Dan and Phil struggled a lot with settling into a quiet life after all their adventures, and on the other hand, it was the most blissful time in the world. They had been through ups and downs together and made it through every step by staying firmly next to each other in life. Their life work was to make sure every kid with _glow_ would be able to grow up and never have to hide who they truly were.

Over seventy years ago, an almost soulless monster met a child, who glowed brilliantly and radiated innocence. No one would have been able to foretell how that one meeting would set everything in motion and lead the two individuals to the life they were now leading. Dan would never have imagined this would be his life when he was a mopey teenager, envious of people with _glow,_ partly for the magic but mostly with their ease at connecting with others. Phil would never have imagined this would have been his life when he was a teenager, bright and bubbly but lacking someone to confide in and someone he could be himself around.

They had both been looking for someone to connect with and they found that in each other, without really looking.

Over the decades and their adventures, their souls had been forging a bond that could never be undone. Not that either Dan or Phil would ever want that. When they’d first stumbled across the term soulmate in their magical research, when they were yet to turn twenty, it had seemed absurd and unlikely. It was rare that it happened, despite how many claiming that they were soulmates with their partners.

Dan and Phil had never gone on record and defined their relationship and not for a lack of trying from the media or generally nosy people.

They didn’t need everyone to know.

They knew what they were, however improbable it seemed, and that were all that mattered to them.

They retreated to a cloaked home, where no one could find them. They stayed heavily involved in the school they had started and the children who lived there. Neither had spent much time contemplating having children but without trying, they had amassed over twenty when they returned from their journey and that number had only continued to grow over the years.

Only Dan and Phil’s families and the adopted children were allowed to be part of their private life. They’d never imagined that they’d become world known and so many people would want to know about them.

They had been open and friendly during their journey but they felt like they deserved to have a quiet time after a decade of public service.

It was a quiet and mild spring morning and Dan and Phil were where they could often be found; sitting in fold-out chairs, looking out over the fields in front of the home and school they founded, while observing the children playing in the grass. Everyone adopted had various degrees of _glow_ and watching them use their abilities to shape the make-belief play time would never cease to make Dan and Phil’s hearts swell.

“Sometimes, it feels like a dream,” Dan said in a quiet voice. “How we could go from me almost killing you to the blissful presence we’ve had for all these decades?”

Phil smiled and reached over to interlock their hands and the magic in their souls rejoiced and calmed. Dan had done great progress over the years but his dark past had defined him more than he was willing to admit. To Phil, it didn’t matter that Dan would sometimes feel weighed down by it, even all these years later. He’d seen how far Dan had come and he was immensely proud of him.

“Didn’t think you’d be stuck with me for this long when you decided to save a stupid little kid, huh?” Phil said and nudged his shoulder against Dan’s. They were sitting as close as their fold-out chairs allowed, always happy to be next to each other.

Dan chuckled and his whole face scrunched up. They’d both gotten wrinkles by now and age generally showed on their faces and bodies. However, their spirits were as young as ever and neither minded the physical proof that they had lived a long and happy life.

Had Phil been born to a different family or come across a different soul snatcher, he would have been dead before his age reached double digits. He was forever grateful for the twists of fate that granted him his family and Dan. He silently wondered if magic had been looking out for him all along, or if he’d just been lucky that the dices had fallen like they had.

Had Dan not been found by Phil, he’d have kept consuming and killing, losing more and more of the fragmented pieces of his soul with each passing kill. He’d never have been able to return to the land of the feeling and even though it sometimes troubled him, he’d be forever grateful that Phil’s accidental touch had given him a second chance at humanity.

“A lifetime isn’t enough time with you, Phil Lester,” Dan said, his voice light and teasing but Phil knew Dan meant every word.

They spotted a man and woman with a baby in her arms walk into the grounds and immediately Phil squealed and teleported the three of them into the bubble of invisibility that Dan and Phil was cloaked in.

Some of the children playing on the field wouldn’t care that their dads were watching but children who attended the school was present too and many of them were still incredibly fascinated with the two founders.

“A warning next time, Phil?” Evan asked as he steadied his feet from the shift of being unexpectedly teleported.

“Sorry,” Phil muttered but he didn’t look remotely sorry at all. “Susan, you look well!”

The woman, thirty years Evan’s junior and his daughter, smiled brightly and rocked the baby in her arms back and forth.

“I thought it most important that I come and show you your great-grand son,” she said and moved closer to their fold-out chairs.

Both sprung up, not minding how their old bodies protested.

“Hello,” Dan said gently as he peaked at the swaddled baby in Susan’s arms.

“He’s wonderful. And a spark of _glow_ to match,” Phil observed as they fawned over the newborn.

Evan had eventually married a wonderful woman and years later they’d had their first child, Susan. Evan had kept insisting that Dan and Phil were the grandfathers and he wouldn’t hear no for an answer. Carly was a grandmother too and she’d been a mess of tears all day when they told her. Susan didn’t have _glow_ but she was bright and bubbly and a wonderful human anyway, yet again proving to everyone that not wielding magic didn’t automatically make you worth less.

Some people had argued just that but they been shut down and shunned, by people who could wield magic and those who couldn’t. Being granted the ability to wield magic didn’t determine your worth. Every human was born equal, no matter what.

“My wife would have loved to have been here but she’s still recovering from the birth,” Susan said as she delicately placed the baby into Phil’s arms.

Phil never held anything with as much care as he did a baby. Dan’s heart melted at the sight, no matter how many times he’d seen Phil engage with the children they saw as their own.

They had made a place for abandoned children without hope could come to a build a good life. They had met so many wonderful people and knowing that so many were no fully fledged adults made both of their hearts soar. It was a privilege to have watched so many bright young people grow up.

“I know you might not approve, it is a bit ridiculous I’ll admit, but I’ve decided to name him Philip and have Daniel as his middle name.”

They both turned away from Susan to stare at each other with matching faces of surprise. They always had a tendency to look at each other first and then address someone else afterwards.

As their feats had been well documented, a lot of people had started naming their children Philip after the great _light_ and quite a few had named their children Daniel after the boy who managed impossibly to come back to humanity. But it was something different when it was a baby that was essentially their great-grand son. They’d known Evan almost all his life and his presence in their life had started a wonderful chain reaction and they’d seen Susan be born and grow into the wonderful woman she was today.

“You’re not,” Dan said disbelieving. “That’s too much. You don’t have to.”

“I want to, Dan,” Susan reassured him and put her hand on hiss arm.

“He likes it,” Phil said, looking down at the baby he held in his arms. “Feel it, Dan,” Phil added and moved to deposit the baby into Dan’s arms.

Dan wasn’t as good and natural with babies as Phil, even if he’d gotten better over the years. He was always scared he’d drop them or do something wrong. But the little bundle of joy did indeed seem happy when you spoke his full name. Dan had already a nephew named after him and Daniel had grown into a wonderful man as well.

“How do you argue with a baby?”

“You don’t. You just accept it,” Evan chimed in, looking fondly at the way his daughter and grandson was doting on the two men who’d literally saved his life from his spiteful mother.

They stayed to chat for a little longer but Susan wanted to get home and check up on her wife, who didn’t like being away from her baby for a long time either. With promises to be back soon, Evan transported the three of them away.

Dan and Phil sat back down in their fold-out chairs and a contemplative silence settled over them.

“Four generations, Phil,” Dan mused. “Over three hundred children adopted by the school since we started it.”

“I know. It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Phil said and then smiled as Dan leaned over to rest his head on Phil’s shoulder.

“It’s children like you, Phil. All over the world children with _glow_ get to live their life. We hardly have to adopt anyone anymore because time and understanding have changed people’s perspective. The people having children now understand that it’s nothing to be afraid or shameful of. And no stupid teenagers, like I was, are turning themselves into soul snatchers, who’ll wreak irreversible havoc.”

“And yet with all those accomplishments the one thing I wish for now is more time with you,” Phil said and leaned over to kiss Dan’s hair as he reached over and intertwined their fingers as well.

“And I’m still just happy I can touch you without the yearning to consume your soul. Now my entire body just hum with happiness with the slightest touch and even after all these years. I’ll never get tired of that.”

“You’ve gotten sappy in your old age, Howell.”

“I’ve always been sappy. You were just the first to bring it out in me.”

“Who are we, Dan?” Phil asked and looked at Dan expectantly.

“Just two guys who met and subsequently changed the whole world,” Dan answered, like he always did. “Phil?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s go home.”

“I’m always home when I’m with you, you know that.”

“And you call me sappy,” Dan said and shook his head. He’d of course meant that they returned to their house but upon Phil’s words, he hesitated for a moment. “Phil? In case, I haven’t told you in a while; knowing you is the most fun I’ve ever had.”

Phil leaned over pulling Dan into a tight embrace and he held on like his life depended on it. Their souls reached out, reassuring and comforting each other as they always did when they mentioned their love for each other.

With them, it wasn’t over the top gestures or grand confessions. It was words spoken softly when it was just the two of them and often implicitly actions, often invisible to others.

They didn’t need to explicitly say it because their souls knew already.

A _light_ and a soul snatcher had been natural enemies but through Dan and Phil’s journey, they had done one impossible thing after the other. However, it could be argued that finding each other and becoming soulmates was their biggest accomplishment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it. Final bonus chapter. This story is officially finished! Over 72k words with the original five piece story and these eleven bonus chapters. That's like almost a short novel. I'm so happy I decided to expand upon this universe and get to properly flesh out the characters before having to say goodbye to them. I hope you enjoyed it too and thank you so much to everyone who've left kudos or left comments. It's been a pleasure to share this universe with you and I'm so happy you liked it. 
> 
> I am writing a lot of other things as well (I'm always bloody writing, even when I probably should focus a bit more on university reading). One of the stories I'm currently doing weekly posts on is another phan AU, called [Trust Me, I'm Broken Too](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11715153/chapters/26385456) which you can check out if you want. Or take a browse of my profile or my writing tumblr [@secretlywritingstories](http://secretlywritingstories.tumblr.com) to keep up with what I write.
> 
> Thank you so much for all the feedback on my first phanfic set in an alternate universe. I'm already planning several more. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everyone who stuck with me on this.


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